Lalin
by kiinchu
Summary: "You see, Sas-oo-kay, this is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object; it's been this way from the very beginning of time. There's only one way to stop this and you won't do it out of some false sense self-righteousness. And I won't because I like this destiny. The one with me and you, together forever under the moon. It's just so much fun this way."
1. Chapter 1

**Lalin**

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><p>So you think darkness is your ally? But you merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, by then to me it was only blinding.<p>

The shadows betray you because they belong to me.

- Bane, The Dark Knight Rises

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><p><strong>Phase I<br>Part I**

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><p>Sasuke stared ahead with dead eyes as Kabuto led him down the intricate hallways. The silver haired scientist didn't say much as they weaved in and out of the area, his glasses gleaming every time they hit one of those rare areas of light. The avenger didn't necessarily expect a warm welcome, but he did not expect to be completely ignored, either. Aside from Orochimaru's creepy grin upon Sasuke's arrival, there was nothing extraordinary about his stay.<p>

_That's fine,_ he thought, narrowing his eyes as Kabuto's pace slowed down and he opened the door to what would be Sasuke's room (at this base, at least). _I'm not here to be liked. _

"I'll come get you in the morning," Kabuto spoke, pushing his glasses up and nodding his head towards the inside of what could be considered a cell. "To make sure your wounds are healing properly."

Sasuke nodded. He had almost forgotten about the wounds inflicted by both Naruto and the use of his curse mark; his body's chakra percentage was lower than it had ever been, and the weakness of his bones almost sickened him.

If only he could go back in time, back to their very first real mission, and let Naruto die by the hands of either Zabuza or Haku, or even himself for that matter. How did someone so weak manage to become so strong? Naruto was easily the worst of the class, and he quickly caught up to Sasuke in a matter of a year. Was Naruto really that strong, or was Sasuke just growing weaker by the day?

He said nothing as he slammed the door in Kabuto's face. The man tried to refrain from grinning at the obvious discontent that was radiating off of his body.

"What's up, Kabuto?"

The silver haired man tried his best not to jump as a figure in white materialized next to him.

"Do you _have_ to do that?" he growled, pushing the cloaked head down in aggravation.

"Orochimaru wanted you," the figure growled, pushing the man's hand away. "Or do you want me to tell him you're too busy for him? I have to say, Ka-bu-to, that's very out of character for you. Usually you'd be busting ass to even be able to stand next to the great and mighty - "

The figures hood dropped as she was lifted in the air by her throat.

"Ai," he growled, tightening his grip as he looked over his glasses and into the vacant gray eyes that he had never quite gotten used to, even after all her years of being there. A desperate look crossed over her face as she struggled to get out of his hold. White hair fell in front of her face as she gripped his hands, trying to pry his hands away from her neck. He wanted to tease her, to ask what was wrong, why she couldn't just materialize away from him, but he knew he would receive hell for it. Instead, he settled for a quick kick to the gut, throwing her to the ground right afterwards.

She hit the ground with a thud, trying to stabilize herself with her hands. She snapped her head up, glaring in his direction.

"Jeez, Crabby-oo-to," the girl cooed through narrowed eyes. "I was just messing with you. I mean, Orochimaru really does want to see you. But I just wanted to check out the fresh meat. You know, get my hands a little dirty. Things around here have been _so_ boring."

"Get up, Ai," Kabuto said. The girl only laughed, shaking her head before disappearing into nothing.

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><p>When Kabuto arrived the next morning Sasuke was already awake, and had been for the past three hours. He had debated training beforehand, there was no such thing as over doing it in his mind, but his room was too small to properly move. The bed took up most of the floor space, and besides the small hole-in-the-wall bathroom, that was all there was. It infuriated him.<p>

Kabuto knocked twice before swinging the door open and waiting for Sasuke to follow him. The man wondered how long he would have to spend babysitting children before Orochimaru once again gave him a task worth actually doing.

He would never voice the request, of course, especially since the energy around the base had been pretty tense since Sasuke arrived and the wretched white haired woman had once again begun her pay-attention-to-me games. Kabuto couldn't help but wonder if that's how he looked to the outside world, so intent on capturing Orochimaru's attention that desperation lingered on his face. Wouldn't it be understandable, though? To be acknowledged by anyone of Orochimaru's standards? To be acknowledge by someone who had surpassed so many shinobi in ways that defied evolution itself?

_She _was different. _She_ was needy. _She_ had no care of whose attention she caught, as long as it was on her.

_She_ was a child. _He_ was a genius.

"Are you alright?"

Kabuto stopped mid walk, turning towards the boy behind him. Had he been talking aloud?

"We're almost there," the man said, keeping his pace and ignoring the question altogether. He was dreading the entire show Orochimaru had decided to put on. Why was it necessary? Did he believe that he could scare Sasuke into submission with some cheap tricks put on by an even cheaper woman? The Uchiha had come willingly, which meant that all of this was simply...

Kabuto sighed and pushed his glasses up.

"We're here," he muttered, turning and staring the young boy right in his eyes. Sasuke couldn't have looked more bored.

The doors swung open and the young avenger took in the scene before him. The room made of concrete and dimly lit, which was to be expected since they were underground. Orocohimaru stood in the shadows, his arms crossed behind his back and a sick grin on his face as he took in his soon-to-be vessel.

"He's perfect," he said, licking his lips.

"That's _disgusting_," the woman next to him muttered. The snake grabbed her by the upper arm, pulling her closer to him. She winced from underneath the hood of her cloak, his grip too tight for comfort.

"Watch it," he grumbled. "Or you'll be my intermediate body."

She resisted a sigh as he let her go and she fell back into place by his side.

"Put on a good show, Ai," the snake grinned as Sasuke and Kabuto approached. "Make it worth your life."

The woman nodded as Orochimaru began to welcome the avenger to the underground maze. Ai had made it a point to label each and every base she had been to, memorizing the maps in her head as to how to get there. The underground base in the Village of Sound was Base 3, since it was the third she was introduced to. Even Base 3 had quickly become Base 1 as the other two were destroyed in one of their many moves, she had been around long enough to know that is was just easier to keep the same numbers.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he heard the word _test._ Did Orocohimaru really expect him to test his abilities when he was such in a weak state to begin with? Kabuto had yet to even look at his wounds to make sure he was healing properly. Not that he was that worried; he was confident in his abilities to take on any shinobi, it was the fear of permanent injury that would hold him back.

He gritted his teeth. He hated Naruto more and more every passing second.

"It's not a problem, is it?" The snake man asked, his words becoming more condescending by the second.

"Of course not," Sasuke replied. "I'm ready for whatever you've got."

Orocohimaru belted out a laugh just as Ai disappeared from his side.

"Very well then," Orocohimaru grinned as the cloaked woman appeared behind Sasuke, her chakra levels so low the avenger had no idea she had even been in the room to begin with, let alone had just materialized behind him. "Begin."

Sasuke flew forward as the woman's fist hit the back of his head. He caught himself before he fell to the ground, flipping backwards and landing on his toes. He stared at his attacker, irritated that he wasn't able to make much out of him, since he was covered head-to-toe in a white cloak, the hood of it masking his face into the shadows.

_I didn't even sense him,_ the boy thought as he touched the back of his head and examined the drops of blood smeared on his fingers. _He has no chakra signal._

"What's the matter?" Orochimaru's voice rang through the room. Kabuto had made his way to the man's side, watching intently with his hands placed behind his back. "Are you not up for the challenge?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Of course I am," he growled, grabbing his wrist with his opposite hand as his chakra began to bubble beneath his palm. _I just have no idea who I'm fighting against, which means I need to finish them off quickly. I don't have time to play games._

"Silly Sasuke," his opponent spoke, letting down the hood and revealing long, white hair that accented an even paler face. "You have no choice."

The Uchiha looked around frantically as she disappeared into nothing before his eyes. _Did I say that out loud? _He questioned, his face pale. Her laughter was echoing throughout the room, sending shivers up his spine. _What the hell is this? _

"What do you want me to do, Sasuke?"

He spun around to find her sitting on top of one of the many pillars that lined the room, her legs crossed and her back leaning against the wall in a lazy manor.

"I could tell you a story, if you want. I'm really good at those. Very good, actually," she placed a single finger on her chin, as if she were coming up with some grand master scheme instead of being apart of an ordinary match.

"Once upon a time, in a land far far away, there lived an orphan boy by the name of Sas-oo-kay. He was a very, very sad boy and he was very, very lonely. So one day he decided to make friends with a big meanie head," she flailed her arms at this part, a big grin appearing on he face as she did so. Sasuke's blood was boiling by the second, his chidori almost complete. "Just because this big meanie head promised him all this nice things. Hmph."

he crossed her arms, directing her attention towards the silent men in the corner. "Oro-chee-mar-oo, why didn't you promise me nice things?"

"I promised you the sun, my child," Orochimaru laughed. "And I've delivered."

Sasuke clenched his jaws as the woman turned back to him, her eyes glowing in desire. _What is this..._ he wondered as she jumped from the pillar down to the floor, her cloak moving slightly to the side, revealing bare feet and bandages around her legs. _Why doesn't she have shoes... and why is she looking at me like she's about to eat me? What... what the hell did I walk into?_

Without a second thought he charged, his eyes glowing bright red as the sharigan wheel began to spin.

"Oh my," the white haired woman said, cocking her head to the side as she stared at the boy rushing towards her. "Those are some brilliant eyes."

Sasuke didn't have a chance to react as she grabbed the chidori right from him and flung it behind her before landing a swift kick to his gut.

"I do like him, Oro-chee-mar-oo," she said, a curious look crossing over her gray eyes as she dropped to the ground with her legs crossed in front of her and her hand on her chin. "But I don't think he's much of a sun, do you? He's much too grim. But he could possibly be my earth. What do you say, Sas-oo-kay? Wanna be my earth?"

Sasuke looked up from his position on the ground. He was gripping the fabric over his stomach, a pained look on his face as blood dripped from his lips.

"I have no idea what the fuck you're talking about," he grimaced before the world before him went black.

Ai turned her head towards the two men in the corner.

"He said scare him," Kabuto said, grabbing his nose in frustration as Orochimaru clapped slowly. "Not knock him out."

"He's boring," she shrugged. "Anyone else would have been freaking out at the whole mind reading thing, or even "this random stranger knows my past and now I'm going to kick their ass" trick. But no, he just goes in for the kill. Bore-_ring_. Anyways," she crossed her arms over her chest. "I still need a Sun."

"You'll have to make due - "

Kabuto was cut off as Orochimaru raised his palm, a stern look in his face as he glanced over the scene before him.

"We'll get you you're Sun, Ai. Just... clean Sasuke up."

A horrified look passed over her face.

"And I thought _my_ jokes were bad," she muttered as the two men disappeared within the shadows.


	2. Chapter 2

**Lalin**

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><p>I was not a lovable child, and I'd grown into a deeply unlovable adult. Draw a picture of my soul, and it'd be a scribble with fangs .<p>

- Gillian Flynn

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><p><strong>Phase I<br>****Part II**

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><p>Sasuke awoke to the sound of clanging metal and fowl curses. The most prominent part about waking up was the cringe-worthy headache that had made it's way to the back of his head. The second most prominent, and most irritating, was the blurr of white that magically appeared before him as soon as his eyes adjusted to the light.<p>

"And he finally awakens! Sorry, I really didn't think I hit you that hard," she grinned, flashing her pearls. She still wore her same white cloak, but her hood was down, which allowed him to get a better look at her face. She wasn't ugly, that was for sure, just a bit strange. Her features were sharp and precise, her eyes a bit more slanted than the average person, and her lips painted coal.

"Where am I?" he grumbled, sitting up only to be pushed back down again. He took note of her hands, which were covered by bandages underneath black finger-less gloves.

"Hm..." she grinned, pulling out a syringe seemingly out of nowhere and holding it in the air. "Base 3, room... 27. Also known as the place where you're going to regain all of your strength, as soon as you take off your shirt."

"Excuse me!?" Sasuke asked, his eyes wide in confusion. Was this woman being serious? He would have never assumed one of Orochimaru's henchmen could have ever resembled the girls from Kohana, in looks or in personality. This woman was definitely unlike one he had ever seen, even her abilities were out of this world, but for her to reduce herself to such -

"Don't get a full head, big boy," she said, her grin dropping and her gray eyes narrowing. "I have to inject this in your chest, right below your heart, to open up your chakra panels. I've seen enough men naked to know you don't stand a chance in comparison. Now hurry up, I don't have all day."

Sasuke went to argue, but the pounding in the back of his head was getting worse, and speaking only hindered him. So instead the young avenger lifted his shirt over his head, and trusted that someone under Orochimaru wouldn't do anything to harm him. He was signing over his body, after all - anything she could have done would only harm the man she was working for. Sure, she could have hated Orochimaru like he assumed half the people under the man did, but there was a reason she was here. Orochimaru had promised her something and -

Sasuke cringed as the syringe sunk into his skin.

"There," she smiled, pulling the needle out of his chest and pulling out bandages from underneath the bed he was on. "In just a few hours, you'll be as good as new."

The boy only nodded as a small heat began building in his chest. The woman began humming to herself, throwing the used sharp in a makeshift sink.

"What happens now?" He asked as the heat began to spread to his arms and neck, tingling his body in the areas he assumed his pathways began.

"You sit here and get better so Oro-chee-mar-oo doesn't have a cow, and I go find someone fun to play with. Honestly, Sas-oo-kay, you are so boring."

Sasuke's eyes twitched. The woman giggled and slapped his shoulder, letting her hand linger on his bare skin.

"Good luck, Oo-kay," she said, leaning in closer so that her lips were just over his ear. He tried pulling away, but she only gripped his shoulder tighter to keep him in place. "You're gonna need it."

He didn't see her leave. One minute she was there, and the next she was gone... as if she had disappeared into thin air.

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><p>Weeks passed and Sasuke eventually assimilated into life at Base 3. His routine was simple: he would wake up before dawn, Kabuto would retrieve him a few hours later, he would spend all day training, and then he would attempt to go to sleep and resume the next day. Attempt was the keyword, because every time he closed his eyes he saw Naruto's determined face.<p>

_I'll bring you back._

How could he be so sure Sasuke even wanted to come back? Kohana was just a place of memories now, ones that would haunt him for all of his life. Why would he want to return to a place like that?

He tried to push the place into the back of his mind; now that his wounds were healed, there was no reason to be reminded of it or any of his old friends.

The strange woman in white was right in the sense that it only took him a few hours to heal, but his body still ached when he fought. Sasuke wasn't sure whether or not it was his old wounds hurting, or new ones inflicted by Orochimaru's pawns... but it was always easier to blame someone other than himself, so he would blame her. Whatever her name was.

She seemed to haunt his dreams most; her dead eyes, her pearly grin, her albino-white hair and skin... she looked like a walking ghost, a paranormal woman whose main job was to stir up trouble. He didn't see her much, but the times he did were more than enough to make an impression.

She was cynical, violent, insane. Her maturity level was one of a five year old that still believed their parents had only been created to entertain them. How Orocohimaru could stand having that woman by his side was beyond the young avenger...

But he continued on, and soon the time lapsed over the course of a month and he could already feel his improvement rising. Soon... soon Itachi would be gone.

Sasuke was faced with at least fifty competitors a day, and though Orochimaru made it clear that he was to dispose of those he fought, Sasuke made sure not to kill anyone. He was not here to become a monster, he was here to gain enough strength to defeat a monster.

Orochimaru laughed the first couple of times; his prisoners were critically injured, but never killed. As much as he tried to admire the young boy's innocence, it soon became a shameful quality in the snake man's eyes. The prisoners wouldn't survive past the night because immediate care would be refused, and those who did were quickly disposed of.

He was trying to give the boy time to adjust to the life he had chosen, but it had been a month and it was time for Sasuke's innocence to crack. So on the eve of the mark of his month stay, Orochimaru watched as the last prisoner fell. He turned, his grin shining through the darkness to the woman in white, who simply nodded before disappearing.

"Come on Sasuke," the snake man called as the boy stood up from his crouched position. "We have a lot to talk about."

Ai watched from the pillar as the two exited the room, dropping down to the floor and walking towards the men on the ground.

"Who..." one gasped as her foot collided into his chest, breaking his ribs and stopping his heart. There were screams from all around as the beaten prisoners tried to make their escape.

"It's not use, you know," the woman teased from underneath the hood of her cloak as she made her way towards them. "You can't even walk. Mr. Oo-chee-wa made sure of that."

"H-he said we would live," another pleaded, tears falling from his eyes as a kunai embedded in his heart.

"He just said _he_ wasn't going to kill you," she shrugged. There were three prisoners left, which meant soon she would be able to prepare herself for what the next day was about to bring. She was already dreading the mental strain being trapped with the avenger was going to bring, and as much as she felt he could be a possible Earth to her phase, there were so many other options for an Earth. The boy was _boring_, and _sensitive_. What kind of criminal couldn't kill a few prisoners?

"I.. I know who you are!" The last prisoner shouted as she approached him. There was blood on the bottom of her cloak, which irritated her to no end. Blood was almost impossible to remove from white. "You're..."

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before," Ai spoke, kneeling down and lifting the man up by his chin. "You're unreal! Crazy! Psychopath! And after you're done calling me all these names, you're going to beg for your life!" She removed her cloak, and stared into the man's blue eyes with her gray ones. He was pretty attractive, for a prisoner. "It'd be funny, if it wasn't so pathetic. I'm going to laugh anyways, but after I slit your throat. Because even though you called me all those means names, I'm just _that_ nice of a person."   
><span>

The man almost laughed as the kunai cut across his throat. Ai cringed as the red liquid splashed across her cloak.

"That bastard man is going to have to replace this before we set out tomorrow," she grumbled to herself, pocketing the kunai in the pouch tied across her upper thigh. She flipped her hair over her shoulder with a sigh, surveying her work. The bodies littered across the place would serve as her company as she waited for Orochimaru to return with Sasuke, who would probably be kicking and screaming like the little brat he was.

"Now," she muttered to the bodies. "What am I supposed to do on this mission? Scare him? Or should I just kill him and tell Orochimaru it was an accident? HAHAHAHA!" She gripped her stomach as she laughed, kicking the blue-eyed man's head as she twirled around.

She stopped suddenly, a confused look on her face, before grinning once more.

"Maybe I _am_ insane."


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Note: **I'm apologizing in advance because this chapter is obnoxiously long. I couldn't find a proper way to cut it off. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far. I appreciate it greatly!

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><p><strong>Lalin<strong>

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><p>You think, 'Okay, I get it.,I'm prepared for the worst,' but you still hold out that small hope, see, and that's what fucks you up. That's what kills you.<p>

- Stephen King

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><p><strong>Phase I<strong>  
><strong>Part III<strong>

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><p>"What the <em>hell<em> is wrong with you?"

There. He snapped. There was no way he could take it anymore. He had gone from a team of compatible ninja to _this._ Hell, even Naruto at his beginning stages was much easier to deal with than _her_.

They hadn't been gone from the base for more than six hours when she had finally managed to get under his skin. They had been sprinting through the trees when suddenly Ai had dropped without warning. She had landed in between two travelers, kicking one man in the head while she snapped the other's neck with her hands.

Sasuke had dropped to the ground as soon as she had picked up an apple that had fallen from one of the men's bags, taking a bite of it and staring at him.

"What?" she asked without swallowing and holding the apple out to him. "You want some?"

"They were innocent," he growled.

She shrugged. "I was nice."

"How the fuck is this nice?" He had practically shouted.

"Uh, they died instantly," she said, narrowing her eyes. "_Duh._"

And that's when he snapped. She had grinned in response and tossed the half eaten apple to the side. She sat down, leaned against a tree and crossed her legs over lazily. The new white cloak Orochimaru had given to her parted slightly, once again revealing her bandaged legs. She was still barefoot, which confused him greatly.

"Nothing is wrong with me, Sasuke," she began, and he took note of how she said his name: completely normal. Which meant her irritating way of pronouncing words was simply that: irritating, and not natural. "Nothing is wrong with anyone. You see, life is all about misunderstandings. People often think that because they are naturally disconnected they are missing something, and they spend their entire lives looking for moments of connection, whether it be with a person, an animal, a place... even objects. Because of this, people often don't say what they mean, whether it be the fear of becoming disconnected once again or just the fear of disappointing whom or whatever they formed their bond with in the first place."

Sasuke's eyes softened as he waited for her to continue. He wasn't too certain where she was going with this, but he was beginning to think that maybe she had a soul after all.

"The only difference between me and everyone else is that I absolutely do _not _make connections. I prefer to be disconnected. From people, from animals, places, things. Bonds absolutely _bore_ me. I figure, we only have one life to live. Why not go out making everyone else's a living hell?"

He groaned. Nope. No soul at all.

"Get up," he said, ignoring her failed attempt at justifying her sanity. "We need to at least reach the half way mark by nightfall."

"We have plenty of time," she replied, placing her arms behind her head and closing her eyes. "We only have about four more hours before we reach the border of the Land of Waves. The town the Noble's gathering is located in is only an hour if we jog, and it doesn't start until two nights from now. I could sleep for the next twenty hours, and we'd still be early."

"Then I'm leaving without you," Sasuke said, his face never faltering as he turned to leave. He stopped mid-step as the woman materialized before him, her gray eyes staring into his black ones.

She looked so much like -

"Fine," she said, rolling her eyes and turning her back to him. "Let's go."

Sasuke resisted sighing in relief. The mission was simple: infiltrate the Noble's gathering in the royal section of the Land of Waves. Retrieve the scroll sent to the Waves by the Sand. Return back to Oto within six days, and once it was over he could say goodbye to the paranormal woman for good and forever.

At least he hoped.

* * *

><p>Sasuke's eyebrows lifted in confusion as the bathroom door of the small motel opened and a woman in a porcelain mask stepped out of the bathroom.<p>

"You're a..."

"Bunny," Ai replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He took her in for a moment; her white hair was tied up in a high bun at the top of her head, and her white cloak had been replaced by a slim-fitting white kimono with black flame designs sprouting from the bottom. The kimono covered her arms and dragged down behind her, which he assumed was to hide the bandages that covered her body. He couldn't help but notice that she was more of a woman than he had given her credit for; while not busty, she held the right amount of curves that could allure even the strongest of men.

He was snapped out of his trance as he caught whatever it was she had thrown at him. Looking down, he realized she had given him a mask of his own.

"It's a masquerade," she said before he could ask. "Get dressed. We leave in ten."

The boy didn't bother looking up from the mask in his hands as the door closed behind her. His hands were shaking, his forehead sweating as the design of the porcelain material seemed to come to life before him in a series of flashbacks. _  
><em>

_How..._ he thought, looking up at the door she had exited out of. _She couldn't have known._

He looked back down at the mask with the intricate bird design on it. A crow.

Itachi's summoning animal.

* * *

><p>"Good evening my fellow citizens!" Ai called, standing on top of the stage with her hands placed on her hips and her eyes so squinted they looked practically closed beneath the dark make-up that lined her eyes. "I am tonight's entertainment! Yes, yes, I know. There was no proper line up for the evening, but..." she smirked. "There's always room for improvement."<p>

Sasuke's eyes narrowed in the crowd. What was she playing at? The mission was to simply retrieve the scroll from the ambassador, nothing more, and yet here she was causing a scene in front of the very people they were supposed to be infiltrating. Her very face itself was enough evidence that she was an enemy; she had removed the porcelain mask before ever stepping on stage. The black around her eyes was thick and menacing, and formed into slits going down her cheeks. Her lips were blacker than usual, making her pearly grin haunting in comparison.

"For my first act, I will need two volunteers! Whose it going to be?" She pulled out the white fan she had tucked away in the loop of her dress, closing her eyes and twirling around. She stopped mid-step, so that the fan was pointing at a woman in pink. "You! And..." she scanned the crowd, and pointed to a man in a suit. "And you! How western of you..."

Sasuke wondered how much strength he would really need to be able to defeat her. Why in the hell would she purposely draw attention to herself, and then purposely pick out the ambassador in the crowd? _This woman is completely mental. _He gritted his teeth. This mission was suicide.

The two volunteers looked hesitant.

"I said, come here," the woman snapped open her fan. "Are you really going to deny your guests a proper show? They did come all the way out here just for you. It's the least you could do, Mr. Am-ba-see-dor."

The man grinned nervously, and grabbed the woman in pink by the hand. Sasuke watched as they began their way up the side stairs and on to the stage. _That must be his wife,_ the boy mused. _But how could she have possibly known that? They weren't standing close at all... _

"You both look so nervous. Is it my face? I'm sorry for the make up, it's just... my face isn't very pretty, you know. But I do have these eyes, and they're quite nice, which means hiding them behind a mask would just be such a same. So I wear this make up, because if I can't be pretty I need to be remembered somehow. Being a woman in this day and age is just so hard, don't you think?"

The woman in pink giggled as Ai touched her shoulder, grinning at the ambassador as the people around them began to laugh slightly. Did they really think she was funny? Sasuke wondered. Or were they just as nervous as he was?

"Alright, is everyone ready?" She asked, and she sounded pretty convincing. She scanned the crowd for her partner, her eyes lighting up as she caught sight of his porcelain crow's mask. She could sense his aura, the red flames of hatred burning off of him as he stared at her. _Oh, Sasuke, you are so cute when you're angry,_ she thought, suppressing the evil grin that was working it's way up her face.

She waited for the crowd's approval before beginning

"Now, Mr. Am-ba-see-dor," she spoke, removing her hand from his wife's shoulder and walking over to him. "Do you know anything about moon phases?"

"Yes, of course."

She flicked the white fan out and started began fanning herself dramatically.

"Would you like to _explain_ it then, oh wise one?" Ai narrowed her eyes. Was he really this dull?

"Well, Ma'am," he said, his dark eyes scanning over her with a bit of unease. "There are 8 stages of moon orbit, though there are primarily four main phases. The New Moon, Full Moon, First Quarter, and Third Quarter. However, they're not in that order." He let out a small chuckle. There was tension radiating from the room, and a lot of it.

"Now, you," she made her way over to his wife. "Do you happen to know what stage the moon is at tonight?"

"I believe... the third quarter," the woman stumbled, rubbing her arm nervously. Ai took a second to fully check her out; blonde hair, pulled up in a tight bun, and her clothes were so beautiful she assumed that the woman before her must have been a gem underneath her mask. _Pretty people are so boring,_ she thought. _Even her mask. A swan, you've got the be kidding me. _

"Well aren't you smart," the white haired woman dead panned, her voice so monotone and dull it sent shivers up Sasuke's spin. He assumed she was about to make her point, whatever that point could have possibly been, so he needed to get out of the crowd fast. He looked around, finding a small balcony at least two stories up. If he could re-position himself there, he could better evaluate the situation and go from there.

Ai narrowed her eyes at the sight of him leaving. _I swear, if that dumb bastard goes too far I will kill him,_ she thought, her murderous intent spiking by the second. The performance was for him; to scare him into submission, to turn him into the criminal he claimed he wanted to be, and to find a Sun to replace him because he was useless. Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke. Sasuke couldn't even appreciate all she had done for him and now he was -

She stopped. She was getting carried away. With a small sigh, she turned towards the crowd.

"What you probably don't know is that exactly one half of the moon is always illuminated by the sun," she spoke again, her voice condescending and cruel. "Now, try to visualize it with me. There are certain points where we see both the sunlit part of the moon and the shadowed part, and that creates the various moon phases. Also try to remember that the shadowed part of the moon is invisible to the naked eye and - "

"I thought this was supposed to be some sort of performance," someone called from the crowd. "Not a science lesson!" _  
><em>

Ai's eyes narrowed in on the culprit; a tall man with beady eyes and brown hair. With a sigh, the woman blew invisible hair from her face and once again stuck her hands on her hips.

"You want a performance?" She called. "Fine. How about a rhyme? One, two, three, all eyes on me. Three, two, one... oh, fuck it. I can't rhyme. Good-bye."

There was an eerily silence that followed the gasps of the crowd as a kunai was lodged in the man's throat. He fell back, dead on impact.

"Does anyone else have a problem with the way I'm conducting things?" She asked, placing her finger on her chin and making her lips pout. "Before I continue, how many shinobi are in this room? Speak now, or forever hold your peace."

The room was silent.

"Right," she coughed. "Like I would believe that this chump," she pointed towards the suited man with her fan, not even bothering to look back at him. "Came without some armed guards?"

The crowd gasped once more as a kunai whizzed towards her, hitting the back wall of the room as the woman in white vanished into thin air. She materialized behind the ambassador, her weapon at his throat.

"Now, let's not get crazy," she said with a small laugh. "I mean, why would anyone want to harm little - old - me? Is it because I'm ugly?" She held the kunai closer to his throat. "You know what my mother used to tell me? You never truly appreciate the beauty of a woman until you've seen the ugliness of 500 others. I mean, really. It makes sense. How are you supposed to appreciate the pretty people, like the wife over there, when you go around trying to kill all the ugly girls?"

"Please," the woman begged. "Let my husband go... We'll pay you whatever you want, please."

Ai rolled her eyes. "And what is it with people and _money_?" She groaned. "What in the world could I possibly want with money?"

"Then what do you want!?" A woman in the crowd shouted, only the be hushed by the men next to her.

"If you would have just let me go on with my story," she replied. "Then I could have told you that already. _Duh._"

"Then get on with it," the swan-masked woman said, her fists clenching at her sides. "Please."

Ai cocked her head to the side.

"Why is it when I just want to do one. simple. thing, everyone has a problem with it. Why is this strange woman up there yapping at us when we could be getting hammered? Why are we even at this god forsaken party? But as soon as some nobleman's life is at stake," she twirled the kunai against the man's throat. He was sweating now, which gave her a sick satisfaction. The build up before the kill was really such a beautiful thing. "Suddenly everyone gives a shit." She closed her eyes, a stern look on her face. "It's people like you that make me pro-abortion."

The people in the crowd cringed. There was no way this woman could actually be real.

"I'm going to get to the point now, okay? I promise. This will be over quickly, and the act will go on. Are you listening?" She waited for confirmation, again. This build up was just _too_ perfect. "Focus on the New Moon. If we're in the Third Quarter, that means we have a phase and two minor phases before we get there. With the New Moon, the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned so that the entire illuminated portion of the moon is the back - the half of it we cannot see. It's a black sky, you see?

I have a possible Earth. And of course, I am the Moon. _Hello_," she motioned towards her face with the hand that was not being used to threaten the man she was holding. Now, I need a Sun, and I need one um... now. Or he dies."

She made a small cut across his throat. There were cries from the crowd. The woman beside her was shaking, too afraid to move.

And the young avenger stood on top of the balcony, his sharigan eyes gleaming down at the woman in white.


	4. Chapter 4

**Lalin**

* * *

><p>Crazy isn't being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It's you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever. They were not perfect, but they were my friends."<p>

― Susanna Kaysen, _Girl, Interrupted_

* * *

><p><strong>Phase I<strong>  
><strong>Part V<strong>

* * *

><p>Sasuke remembered his mom.<p>

Sasuke remembered her warm smile and her soft hands. He remembered her laugh, and how she had always made sure that the younger brother had just as much as the eldest one. He remembered her beauty, her grace; how, even when she was angry and falling apart she still managed to keep herself together. She was the perfect woman; strong, beautiful, kind, and she would forever set the example of everything he looked for in a partner. His father was cruel, but fate had done him a favor by pairing him with Mikoto.

The young avenger stared up at the woman from his position on the floor, his vision blurry and blood dripping down his forehead, and his thoughts remained on his mother. How could human beings be so alike in their physical form, yet so different mentally? How could a woman take a life without even a second glance when their bodies were created to produce it? How... _  
><em>

He clenched his fists. _No._ He had to stop thinking, had to stop contemplating the meaning of existence as if his was about to expire. He would not die before he got a chance to avenge them.

The boy closed his eyes, and when they re-opened they were once again a swirling red. Ai's laughter cut through his hearing as the ambassador dropped to the ground next to his dead wife.

_Sasuke. _

His mother's voice rang through his head just as the pain in his abdomen began to spike. She had tried to kill him - the woman whose insanity practically leaked out of her pores - stabbed him right through the stomach with nothing but her fist.

_Sasuke._

He closed his eyes again. There was no fighting it.

How could this have happened? How did he become so... weak?

* * *

><p>Ai wasn't surprised when Sasuke attacked her. She had materialized away just as his weapon had hit the spot where her shoulder should have been, quickly appearing behind him and shoving her hand through his stomach just as the ambassador stumbled away. She immediately turned towards the swan in pink, sending a kunai towards her throat and watching as she dropped to the ground.<p>

Sasuke collapsed. Ai sighed as she listened to the murmurs of the crowd. Chakra was beginning to spike all around, which meant that someone had finally called for reinforcements.

So she did what she must, and she slit the ambassadors throat.

"You are a pain in my ass," the woman groaned, her gray eyes pointed down at the boy as she began to form her seals. Black, masses of shadows began to creep their way towards him, consuming him and her in a matter of seconds.

* * *

><p>The first thing he saw was sunlight.<p>

No, it wasn't that. It was too patterned, too broken up, too discolored. The world around him smelled of burnt trees, and he couldn't quite remember where he had been before the place of the false sun.

Is this what Ai meant, that he would be the Sun? That he would die? Was the light at the end of the tunnel of oblivion so simple as seeing the Sun for the last time?

Sasuke blinked. He was suddenly in his body again.

The false sun was actually a fire, which explained the smell of burning forest.

He sat up immediately, but backed down just as the pain is abdomen began to flourish again. How could he have forgotten that Ai had -

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty."

And she was suddenly there, smiling in all her glory. Questions raced through his mind: what happened to the people at the gathering, where was the scroll they were sent to get in the first place, when did she have time to change back into her normal clothes, and where were his? He only wore the pants from his dress attire, seeing as his shirt had been removed and replaced by bandages.

Instead, "Get away from me. You're a madwoman. How Orochimaru ever took an interest in - "

"Oh, shut _up,_" she groaned, throwing more wood in the fire. "Assumptions make you sound dumber than you are, and trust me, you are already as stupid as they come."

"Excuse - "

"Sas-oo-kay, _darling_," she spat the last word like venom. "Please. You're giving me a headache."

The white haired woman smiled. Sasuek didn't realize he had assumed anything; it met a certain standard to believe that in order to be in the snake's presence, he had to be interested in the person, had to want something from them. He never actually thought that it could be the other way around, that someone could have actually been interested in a man like that.

And he definitely did not appreciate being called stupid. He was an Uchiha, born and raised - at least for a good portion of his life. He deserved the respect that came with the title, and not only that - the respect that came with being at the top of his class, the respect of being strong enough to fend of monsters like Zabuza and Gaara of the -

"How old are you?"

Irritation pushed aside, Sasuke was confused. He narrowed his eyes, unsure of whether or not to answer her. What game could she possibly be playing now? What could she possibly accomplish by knowing his age?

"Fourteen, I'm assuming. But you are very fortunate for your age, looks-wise. I'll give you that."

It would be foolish to take her words as a compliment. He remembered her going on about pretty people, how she didn't consider herself pretty, how she wanted to be remembered by her looks, and he wondered how that came to be. Ai was strange, but she was enticing, well endowed, and certain not ugly whenever her face wasn't stretched in a cynical grin. Which, if he thought about it... usually was.

When she realized he was done talking, she sighed - an actual deep, meaningful sigh that expressed the frustration that was building up in her bones. Why did Orochimaru assign her to him? How was she supposed to break someone down who didn't even know how to properly respond to another human being?

"You're an awful criminal, Sasuke," she said, her face relaxed and flat. It was an odd look for her. "I honestly don't know what the hell you were thinking joining us. You're too... "

"Normal?" He choked out. His words were fire. "Sane?"

"Naive."

"Naive because I don't cause unnecessary deaths? Naive because I hold some sort of compassion and respect for human life?"

"Do you actually think you're a good person? Do you truly believe that?" Her voice was louder now, but it was not cruel. Ai stood up, but she did not walk towards him; instead, she leaned against the nearby tree, crossing her arms. Her hair covered her shoulders and glowed in the moonlight. "Come _on. _You can't really be this dense. Just because someone has a reason for being horrible, doesn't make them good."

She stopped herself before she got carried away, but she still chanted it in her. _Itachi, for example._ _Itachi. Itachi. Itachi. _

"And you have the right to judge that?"

"Don't be fooled, pretty boy. You're just as wicked as I am, but you have actual goals, which means you may be just a tad more insane."

* * *

><p>"What's wrong, Ai?"<p>

"Nothing."

"Come on. Something is _always_ wrong. It's the way of the world, right?""

The woman was sitting on top of the glass cage that held a boy that could have been her brother if physical appearances meant anything more.

"Can I play with your sword?"

"You're insane."

She sighed. "So I've been told."

"What? No philosophical quotes today?"

"I'm tired."

Suigetsu crinkled his nose. Something was wrong here.

"Well, since you're feeling so out of character today, why don't you let me out of this cage so I console you?"

The woman laughed, jumping down from the top of the glass container. She placed her hands on her hips teasingly.

"Not a chance."

"Hey, where you going? It's get lonely down here, you know."

She simply waved him off, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

><p>There was something about Orochimaru that set her on edge.<p>

It could have been the way his eyes seemed to shine in even in the darkest of places. Maybe the way he laughed, the way he smiled. It could have been the body possession, too.

Or it could have been the pain he managed to inflict on her.

Pain no one else in the world could ever make her feel.

At least, no one that existed anymore.


	5. Chapter 5

**Lalin**

* * *

><p>"I am a monster. The worst kind of monster. The kind that people have told stories about for thousands of years.<br>I am the Gorgon Medusa. And my eyes can turn anything living to stone."

― Heather Lyons, The Deep End of the Sea

* * *

><p><strong>Phase I <strong>  
><strong>Part V<strong>

* * *

><p>The water was red, and her skin had finally began to shrivel up at her fingers and toes.<p>

Gray eyes burned at the site of scarred flesh. Ai wrinkled her nose, discomforted by the site of her bare body but knowing that it would do her no good to bathe with bandaged limbs.

It seemed the only time she got to truly be alone with herself was when she was bathing, and she didn't get the opportunity often. Life was far too hectic to worry about such minuscule things, but it was a necessity, especially after the reaction Orochimaru gave after both her and Sasuke's mission was overlooked.

The man had waited for the avenger to leave, of course. Orochimaru was a man proud of the devotion that came along with his subordinates; keeping them in place was something he'd rather not share in front of the vessel he had planned for his soul. So, when Sasuke walked - no, limped - out of the room Ai was personally greeted by Orochimaru's shiny yellow eyes and his abnormal tongue wrapping around her throat.

"I said break him. Not try to kill him."

"You underestimate him, Oro-chee," she said, her hand wrapping tightly around the tongue. Just a few more centimeters of freedom and she'd be able to materialize away. Not that she would; she never backed down from Orochimaru, no matter what the cost. It was just nice knowing that she had the ability. "You picked the wrong Sun, you picked the wrong vessel, and now you're stuck with me for-ev-er. Isn't that promising? Aren't you just so excited?"

She was thrown to the ground suddenly. When she looked up, the man was in front of her, squatting down so that they were eye level.

"Tell me, Ai. Is that a threat?"

"Don't you listen? It's a promise."

Ai sighed, moving the water with her charred hands. It had to be at least two in the morning, and though most people who inhabited the base did not sleep often, the place was completely quiet.

She moved down, submerging herself in the water.

The third quarter was ending. There wasn't much time.

* * *

><p>She dreamed of blue eyes. Eyes only half open, covered by raven hair. Porcelain skin. Thin lips.<p>

Black robes wrapped around a skinny body. White flames creeping up the bottom.

A thirteen year old girl staring at her. Smiling. Smiling while the rest of the world was screaming.

"They'll see you some day, Ai. And until then... I see you."

Smoke. Flames. Shadows.

So many shadows.

Water.

Water everywhere.

"It's a full moon tonight, Ai. Remember what your name means? They'll see you some day."

_I see you._

She would have woken up screaming if the ability to be afraid was still in her. Instead, she simply lay on the hard mattress that was supposed to be her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She had re-wrapped her arms and legs, throwing on her regular clothes minus the white cloak. A black, strapless jumpsuit over a fishnet shirt and black, elbow-length gloves over them. She always had to be ready, always had to be alert. There was no time to get dressed if someone were to attack.

It couldn't have been past five in the morning. If the base had windows, she would be able to see the sunrise.

The sunrise that marked the end of the third quarter. The sunrise that would scream at her for being so stupid.

"Life sucks and then you die," she muttered to herself with a sigh, folding her hands behind her head and propping herself up with her arms. "Isn't that right, sister?"

* * *

><p>Kabuto was annoyed.<p>

He did not sign up to be a babysitter. He did not sign up to spend his days looking after the rest of Orochimaru's puppets. He was an excellent medic, sure, and an even better scientist, but he did not appreciate wasting his talents on injuries that could have been easily avoided.

"She really did a number on you," he said, relaxing his fingers over Sasuke's stomach as the wound re-closed. "I take it Orochimaru wasn't very appreciative of that."

Sasuke didn't say anything. He preferred not to talk about it.

It wasn't that he was ashamed of being injured, but he was ashamed. How had she managed... how could he have given up so easily? Even with Zabuza, with Orochimaru at the Chuunin exams, with Gaara, with Naruto... he had fought til the end. But this time, he had been so helpless.

How?

Why?

Kabuto bandaged him and handed him his shirt.

"Take today to rest. You'll resume training tomorrow," he said, wiping his hands on a towel. "And don't let her get to you, Sasuke. Ai is... different, and she can be scary. But it's all theatrics. She's a child, if you ignore her it drives her mad."

A child, he wanted to laugh. She was far too cruel to be a child.

"That doesn't mean she's not strong. Her strength is... petrifying, but she prefers not to use it. She likes getting in your head. If you make an enemy out of her, you're going to have to know how to beat her first."

"What's her secret?"

Kabuto blinked, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Excuse me?"

"Everyone has a secret. Something that makes them... the way they are," he only paused because he could not quite figure out how to word his thoughts. "What's hers?"

Kabuto smirked.

"You spent the last six days with her and haven't realized it yet?"

The boy narrowed his eyes, which caused the silver haired man to laugh.

"She's a lunatic. That's all there is to it," he said bluntly, making his way towards the door. Kabuto stopped as soon as his hand touched the door knob. 'Your body language will always give what you're thinking away. If she can get inside your head, she'll use it to destroy you."

And that was all he would say on the matter.

* * *

><p>Ai was the first thing he saw.<p>

Orochimaru resisted the urge to sigh, knowing full well what the day was going to bring. Sasuke would begin his training once more, and this time it would be a one-on-one with the snake man himself. Kabuto would be taking over the labs for the day, and Karin would be arriving in the afternoon.

Which left Ai.

Ai who had a very important task but would refuse to leave until she received a proper candidate for a sun.

The snake man understood why she was upset; she had completed the mission to the Land of Waves, had retrieved the scroll from Suna, and had still not received her end of the deal. Normally, he could care less of his bargains. He was in this world to serve one person - himself - and he would be damned if he was held back by such a silly thing as promises that were falsified from the beginning.

But Ai was different.

She was always different, she had been since the day she walked through Akatsuki's door dressed in white and covered in red. Thick, red liquid that had leaked out of the bodies she had slaughtered overnight.

The promise he had made her, to find the rare piece to her puzzle, was one he couldn't overlook. Her goals out-masterminded even his own, and if she succeeded in this then...

He closed his eyes. Smirked. Tried to hide the nerves that had begun to prickle his skin.

"We need to talk."

She narrowed her eyes, her lips curling as she jumped down from the pillar on the wall. Her cloak swirled around her body, tightening for a moment around her curves before relaxing once more.

"Yes, Oro-chee-mar-oo. We do."

* * *

><p>She had to have been no older than eleven.<p>

Itachi had stepped aside the moment she entered beside Konan, letting the rest of the small organization get a good look at her before taking her to the back room to see Pein. Her white hair was tangled down her back, and she wore a short white dress over fishnets and bandages. Her clothes were stained with blood, the same blood splattered across her hair and face; the same blood that stained her lips as they curled up in a grin.

She was laughing. Hysterically.

As if the group of people she had just been introduced to were some sort of joke in her eyes. As if the world around her was crumbling and re-shaping into something so hilarious there wasn't any sort of restraint available to keep it in.

"Who the hell was that?"

Orochimaru had resisted the urge to roll his eyes as soon as the over-religious fool had opened his mouth. He didn't have the answe then, but he would.

And he wouldn't share it with anyone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Lalin**

* * *

><p>Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.<p>

- A.A. Milne

* * *

><p><strong>Phase I<strong>  
><strong>Part V<strong>

* * *

><p>Once upon a time, in a land far far away, there lived a beautiful princess and her -<p>

No, wrong. Okay. How about this.

Once upon a time, in a land of shad -

Shit.

Once upon a time there was an ugly princess and her beautiful sister -

Fuck.

"Ai. Stop."

She did. She had been walking in circles around the cage that held the boy that could have been related to her in another life. It was strange to address him as such, but that's how she had introduced herself when Orochimaru had first brought him there. "Hi, my name is Ai, and you are the boy that could have been related to me in another life." And so she called him that, and would continue to call him that for good and forever.

Suigetsu never protested against it. They could have been siblings, the way their skin was so pale and their hair so white. Not to mention their eyes, both slanted at unfortunate angles.

"Now, explain to me again. What exactly are you babbling on about?"

"I need a sun," she said. "And I needed him yesterday. Orochimaru wants to send me on a relocation mission, and you know those take at least a month to accomplish if sloppily done. The new moon is coming up in less than a week and I have a half-assed Earth and no Sun and the only way I'm going to get a Sun is if my stupid Earth has justifiable reason to help me and the only way he's going to help me is if I tell him my master plan and he's going to want to know, why, oh why do I want to destroy the moon when it's not even apart of our planet and we need it to -

"Ai. Stop. You are talking _way_ too fast."

She stopped, crossing her arms over her chest and kicking her hips to the side in an attitude fashion.

"Then I will just wait here patiently for you to tell me what I should do, oh wise one."

"You should tell Sasuke that you need him to find you a Sun, and make him a promise in exchange for whoever he finds."

"Oh? And what kind of promise do you think will _actually_ work on him?"

"Well, if he's like any other human being on hm... this entire planet. I'm sure if you promise to leave him alone forever, he would gladly oblige."

Her lips curled up into a smirk.

"You!" she practically shouted, snapping her fingers. "Are a genius!"

Suigetsu smirked from behind the glass.

"Are you going to reward my for my genius then?"

"I'm not letting you out of the cage."

"How about you just tell me exactly what you're gonna tell Sasuke then? I've always wanted to know how the great and powerful Ai came to be."

"Oh, you get funnier by the day!"

* * *

><p>Sasuke was not in the mood.<p>

He had not been able to land one hit all day - not one. And sure, he was up against Orochimaru himself, but that shouldn't have mattered. He should at least be able to hit him once.

But nothing.

He was battered and bruised and he had nothing to show for it.

How the hell was he ever supposed to beat Itachi? How was he supposed to become strong enough to beat Orocohimaru before the man took over his body when he could barely spar against him?

Sasuke sighed, twisting the door to his open open and slamming it behind him.

Tomorrow would be better. It _had_ to be better. Tomorrow he would -

"Well, good morning, Sas-oo-kay!"

He narrowed his eyes towards the woman sitting on his bed, her legs crossed over and her palms flat on the bed. Her head was cocked to the side, long white locks of hair hanging over her shoulder.

"How the hell did you get in here?" he asked, his voice harsh. _And it's night time, you idiot. _

She shrugged. "Hm, I don't know. How _did_ I get in here?"

"I don't have time for your games, Ai. Get out."

"Oh! That's why I'm here. You wanna know why I play games, Sasuke? 'Cause I can tell you!"

"I don't really care."

"Oh well, I'll tell you anyway!"

Ai was grinning now, her teeth reflecting off the dim light that shine through his room. If it was a normal day, if she was a normal girl, he would have waited for her to shut up before picking her up and throwing her out of the room. But it wasn't, and she wasn't, and he was fed up.

So he did what he shouldn't have done.

He hit her.

Right across the face, a strong punch that should have sent any shinobi to the ground.

But she just sat there. Grinning.

"Aw, did Sas-oo-kay have a bad day?" she asked, touching her cheek, which now had a tint of red from the swelling. "Did he realize that he's not as great and mighty as he once thought? I mean, you think he would have realized this sooner, before even coming here, or even when he almost died at - "

He swung again, but this time she had materialized away before contact. She appeared behind him, grabbing him by the shoulder and throwing him to the ground, her gray eyes lit up with excitement.

"You _can_ be fun!" she squealed, looking down on him.

"What do you want?" he grumbled, picking himself back up. He was relaxed, or at least he looked it. Ai could feel the chakra radiating through his body into his palm. _Chidori._

"If you would just let me talk, you would have already known. Sheesh!" the woman replied, swinging her hips to the side. "Now, put that away," her bandaged fingers motioned towards his hand. "And we can talk."

"Why would I want to talk to you?"

"Ugh." she groaned, grabbing her forhead in frustration. "What was it he said would convince you? I remember... it would really work too. Damn it, different life dude, why do you - OH!"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows. His chidori was weakening.

"If you help me," she continued. "I'll leave you alone. Forever!"

* * *

><p>"Sora."<p>

The moment she had heard his voice she stopped, blue eyes wide as she took him in.

The woman quickly let go of the fur she had been holding, belonging to the giant silver wof she had been carried by. She stepped down from it's back and began to slowly walk towards the man in front of her.

She wanted - no, needed - to see him. To touch him. To _feel_ him.

"Yukon," she spoke, stopping a few feet away from him.

The dark haired man closed the distance between them, his hand gently grabbing her cheek. The woman's eyes began to wander as she placed her hand on bis shoulder, softly at first, and then gripping tightly.

She let out a sigh. He was real.

"Aya," Sora spoke to the wofl, but her eyes never left the golden eyes of the man in front of her. "You may leave."

Aya let out a small growl, silver fur spiking on instinct. She did not trust this man, did not trust -

Yukon glanced over towards the creature, a small smile crawling on his lips. Their eyes matched.

"I think it's time we talked," he finally spoke.

"Tell me, then. Are we talking as us... or as the Shadow Kage and one of the missing nin of his sacred village?"

* * *

><p>Ai's eyes had always been gray.<p>

Gray, void-less, strange, but not always cruel.

Nobody would believe that, though. That her eyes hadn't always been cruel. Hadn't always been so... discomforting.

Especially Sasuke.

So when she spoke of a time where her gray eyes had been full of light and love, he couldn't help but question her. He knew she had no reason to lie... but an Ai full of hatred would have been so much easier to believe than an Ai full of love.

But how could she have been any different, with a name like Ai? A name so precious, so sacred, that it meant love itself.

He couldn't help but compare himself to her. Is this how he could have turned out, if things had been different? Is this how he could have been, if his mother had not been as loving as she was? If Itachi had loved him? And if Sasuke had been the one to kill them instead of his older brother?

Was this woman in front of him everything Itachi had become, materialized in front of him as an arch angel in white?

Something changed.

Suddenly everything was very different.

"I'll help you," he closed his eyes. "But... I want something else."

"Other than me ignoring you forever?"

"Quite the opposite, actually," he smirked. "I want you to train me."


	7. Chapter 7

**Lalin**

* * *

><p>You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villian.<p>

- Harvey Dent

* * *

><p><strong>Phase I<strong>  
><strong>Part VI<strong>

* * *

><p>"No."<p>

It caught him off guard.

"Sora, please listen - "

"No - "

"You must - "

"I must do no such thing - "

"It's - "

"If you think that for one moment I will turn in my own blood, Yukon, you are deeply misguided."

"It's for the sake of the Village."

"It is no such thing and you know it. Do you think that I am that naive? That I am still a child with no common sense? Do you truly believe that I do not know what went on between you and Ai once word spread of my death?"

He was silent. Had he been anyone else, he may not have been able to look into her eyes; pools of blue, spiraling around a slit pupil, but he was much too proud for that.

"That's what I thought," she finally spoke after a moment of silence."

"She tried to kill you."

"So you slept with her?"

He opened his mouth just to close it again.

"Again," she closed her eyes, letting out a breath of air. She was leaning against the window directly across from his desk, her arms crossed over her chest in an irritated fashion. He took note of her clothes, tight fitting, revealing, the fur coat around her shoulders being her only source of heat, and he was reminded of the beautiful robes she once wore. "That's what I thought."

"Sora."

"Yukon."

He wasn't getting anywhere and he knew it. The man ran his hand through his dark locks, his golden eyes closing briefly as he tried to re-assess his strategy.

How did they get like this?

"After I died you went after my sister," she responded. Yukon's golden eyes widened slightly - he had not realized he had spoken aloud. "You did not search for me, did not even question what had happened. You went after my sister and seduced her into helping you become Kage, and then tried to have her executed."

"She's crazy, Sora. She tried to - I believed that she had killed you, and in a sick way it was... revenge. I had to... I had to break her heart just as she broke mine. Using her powers in the process only enabled my chances at becoming this Village's Leader, it was not the only reason and you know it to be true."

"Shut up," she snapped, her eyes blazing. "I will not help you."

"Then I will arrest you as a missing nin and a threat to this - "

"You will do no such thing," she said, narrowing her eyes. "It was nice seeing you again, love. Now, goodbye."

And she vanished without even blinking.

* * *

><p>Sora was four when Lalin was born.<p>

"She's strange," the young girl had said, leaning over the railings that lined the crib. Her black hair had been cut short, only falling an inch or so below her ears, and her blue eyes were wide with amusement.

"She's the Moon, my dear. What did you expect to look like?"

The girl shrugged. "Like me."

"To be fierce as the Wolf? She couldn't possibly measure up to you, my dear. Now get ready for supper. Lalin needs to sleep."

"Lalin is such a weird name, Mommy. Can I give her a nick name?"

"What name could you possibly give her, Sora?" her mother asked, her gray eyes staring down at the eldest sister.

"Ai," she said with a grin. "I'll call her Ai."

* * *

><p>"I'll give you the basic techniques you need to master while I'm gone," the white haired woman grinned from across the room, her hands dangling freely at her sides as she eyed the boy in front of her. "Then tomorrow morning we leave in search of a Sun, and return by night fall to perform the ritual. When I get back from Oro-chee-maroo's dumb mission, I expect you to be <em>at least<em> as good as I am at all of these. Do you understand, Sas-oo-kay?"

Sasuke gave a stiff nod and wondered whether or not asking her to train him was such a good idea. However, his thoughts never went passed that, for he couldn't deny the truth to even himself.

Ai was the only way he could beat Itachi.

Orochimaru could make him stronger physically, but the mental levels he needed to reach were beyond even the snake man's comprehension. Ai was a master at the art of deception, of knowing her opponent without them even happening to open their mouth. With her help, he knew that not only would his sharigan get stronger, but he would not need to rely on it as much as he did. She could teach him how to get under someone's skin, how to use their body language against them, how to completely destroy them from the inside before even touching their outside.

If he could defeat her, he could defeat Itachi.

Because they were exactly the same -

she had massacred her entire family, too.

Ai's irritation levels surpassed the young Uchiha's to the greatest extreme. She was impatient, bored, tired, and just not in the mood to deal with him. But a deal was a deal, and their time was cutting short. She wanted - no,needed him to just magically become a better shinobi, a better criminal, a better _everything_ so she could get rid of the moon and be on her happy way.

Besides, how could anybody be this dense? If she fidgeted, obviously she was thinking of a way to attack him - that was his opening, and he had to find the opening before he decided what he wanted to use.

Simple. Simple techniques for the simple minded.

"Sasuke," he once again took not of how she said his name; normally, without any enunciation. "I need you to pay attention to me, puh-lease. Just imagine... Image I was your big, mean older brother. What did he used to do... Oh!"

She was in front of him suddenly, her gray eyes gleaming as her fingers touched his forehead.

"How..."

"Did I know?" She asked, backing up and cocking her hips to the side. "Body language, big boy. This," her grin never faltered. "is what I'm trying to teach you. So come on, Mr. Oo-chee-wa prodigy. Show me what you're made of."

If only she could have search for her Sun today. She could have promised him that she would have trained him the day after, and been gone before he had woken up.

But he was just starting to get fun, and how could she pass up _that_ opportunity?

* * *

><p>The raven haired woman glanced over to the wolf beside her, her hair falling over her face as she did so. Aya was everything a partner should be; beautiful, strong, fierce, well built... and while she would give her life for the wolf, and the same in return, the emotional connection she had with her previous partner was far too strong to ever be replaced.<p>

"What's wrong?' the wolf spoke. Nightfall was approaching, which meant the two would soon begin their move.

Sora shook her head.

"I have no idea what I'm doing anymore," the woman responded. "Where do we go from here, Aya? What is our purpose?"

"To live. So we do."

Sora sighed.

"What do you think we should do about Ai?"

"Leave her be," Aya responded, her eyes glowing. "She is the same as He. They will cause nothing but pain for you."

"Its my fault, you know," Sora responded, slightly grinning underneath her hair. Blue eyes met gold and for a second she thought something other than contempt lingered in the wolf's eye; she was wrong, of course. Aya wasn't the type to feel more than necessary. "What happened to us. What happened to Ai."

Aya growled slightly.

"You know it's true, Aya."

"I believe no such thing."

There was a moment of silence before Sora spoke again.

"To live," she whispered. "So we do."


	8. Chapter 8

**Lalin**

* * *

><p>I knew I was unwanted when my bath toys were a radio and a toaster.<p>

- Unknown

* * *

><p><strong>Phase I<strong>  
><strong>Part VI<strong>

* * *

><p>Sora was six years old when she first turned.<p>

She remembered it clear as day. She remembered the sharp pains in her stomach, her skin prickling, her eyes burning as the pupils stretched and formed into permanent slits.

She remembered her mother, beautiful and bold, screaming and crying - why, oh why did you let this happen? How could you let her go through this? Why - why didn't you stop this! You're evil, terrible. Don't you know your purpose?

Screaming, shouting, crying -

at a two year old toddler who had no idea why her older sister's skin was cracking and reshaping right before her eyes.

Sora was eight years old when Ai first turned.

It wasn't as terrifying as hers, and Sora wasn't expected to do anything but watch as her four year old sisters body turned black as coal and became a hollow shell, before shattering before her and leaving nothing but a shadow in her place.

"Too long," her father had commented, placing his head on his eldest daughters head. "Sora's first transformation only took a total of two minutes. Lalin's should have been much shorter, since the strain the Moon spirit has on the body is much less." He turned towards his wife, who looked just as disappointed, if not more. There was an edge in her gray eyes she hoped her husband could not see. "How is that child supposed to protect Sora when she can't even get her first transformation right?"

"She'll get better, Daddy," Sora answered for her mother, the uneasiness of her voice showing through her words. "I think it's pretty cool."

The man sighed, removing his hand from Sora's head and crossing his arms over his chest. Silver hair fell in front of blue eyes as he turned away from his family, walking away without another word. His wife was soon to follow, the long white robes she wore dragging behind her.

"Are you coming, Sora dear?" her mother called from over her shoulder.

"What about Ai?"

"She'll find her way home, darling," the woman said, smiling. "And if she doesn't, we'll come find her."

Sora nodded with a small smile, giving one last glance before running to catch up with her mother.

Manami chuckled, supposedly in amusement towards her young child, but it was more of an act directed towards herself. The woman ran her hand through her dark, raven hair, before bending over and picking up her daughter.

She had gotten so good at lying, she barely realized she was doing it anymore.

There was no way Lalin could find her way back on her own, that was the point of leaving her. The child's existence was useless - she was born and raised for Sora, to prevent Sora from transforming, and she was a failure.

Her life was meaningless. Manami could only hope that she would get swallowed up by the moon, and never return.

* * *

><p>Kabuto was almost surprised to find the two willingly together, but he didn't say much on the matter. He had simply been passing by the training room when he caught sight of a ball of white flying past the doorway. He had stopped and stared as the woman caught herself right before she crashed into the wall, flipping backwards and landing gracefully on her bare feet.<p>

"Woohoo!" she had shouted, spinning around so that her cloak flowed around her in an almost-magestic way. "You actually managed to hit me! I seriously almost shit myself. Not from the hit, of course, but that you actually managed it! And it only took what..." the woman looked down at her wrist, "thirteen hours?"

"You don't even have a watch, you idiot," Sasuke responded, standing up straight.

Kabuto sighed and walked off without a second glance. He couldn't understand why anyone would willingly pair themselves with a woman like _that_, but he didn't question it to much. With Sasuke distracted, Orochimaru would have time to deal with more important issues, and the silver haired man would not be assigned to babysitting duty once more.

Still. It unnerved him.

_She _unnerved him.

The woman sighed, pushing her snow white hair out of her face and grinning at him. She couldn't expect him to get it - the need for theatrics, the way drama made everything so much more interesting. Fighting was boring if there were no games; if you couldn't make your opponent crack mentally before destroying them, what was the point?

She shrugged to herself. _Whatever._

"See you in the morning, then," she said, her grin never faltering as she vanished.

Sasuke said nothing, only stared at the blank walls of the room and wondered to himself about the enigma of a woman he had willingly asked to be his teacher.

He also pretended not to notice Kabuto lurking around the corner, staring at the pair intently through his gleaming glasses. Sasuke didn't much care for the man - he was irritable, just like the rest of Orochimaru's followers - but that did not mean he let his guard down around him. The boy had already noticed the man's uncomfortable glances towards Ai, the way his teeth ground together and his eyes filled with hatred. He wondered if she had done something, or if the man was just easily put off by her presence. The latter wouldn't be surprising, since Ai's personality wasn't one to be particularly fond of, but he was starting to learn that even the walls of the base had secrets to share.

The shower was the first stop Sasuke made upon entering his room. It had to be at least past ten at night, and he knew that Ai was planning on leaving before the sun even rose the next day. He should have gone straight to sleep, conserved as much energy as possible and worried about his hygiene some other day, but he was starting to grow tired of his own stench.

Gray eyes haunted his sleep as they always did, twisting and turning and eventually fading away only to reappear as pools of red and swirls as pupils.

He hadn't realizes he had fallen asleep.

"Wake up, sleeping beauty!" Ai shouted, ripping the covers off of him and grinning wildly. She was sitting on the edge of his bed, crouched over with her elbow on her knee and her chin placed firmly in her hand. "Are you ready to go on an adventure, Sas-oo-kay!? Are you ready to see the world? It's so big and beautiful out there... just think, you get to see sunlight! And maybe you can even introduce me to some of your cute friends, hm? I have grown quite lonely - "

"Ai," he snapped, his black eyes switching to crimson. "Get. out."

"I like it here," she responded, glancing down at him. He had fallen asleep without a shirt, which meant there was plenty to keep her alert. "It's a nice view. Besides, you won't use the sharigan on little old me, would you?"

She widened her eyes in an attempt to look innocent. When she realized Sasuke's refusal to move, she sighed.

"Fine," she whispered. "You have two minutes."

The woman vanished from her spot on the end of his bed, materializing right outside his room with a sour look on her face.

"Two minutes," she grumbled under her breath. "And then I rip his stupid head off."

* * *

><p>She was flying through the trees.<p>

It had been so long since she had actually ran she wasn't sure how she was keeping up speed. Sora spent most of her time on Aya's back, being carried from place to place and hidden behind silver fur as opposed to being exposed out in the open. Now, though, she realized how much she had missed it.

Her bare feet hit the tree branches as she swung herself up and over another, her hair flying wildly behind her as she stared up at the sky. What once was black was starting to become a mix of pinks and orange, signalling the sun's rise and the start of a new day.

Aya howled behind her, snapping her out of her daze and alerting her senses.

Sora stopped mid step, grabbing on to the trunk of a nearby tree and swinging herself around it. Blue eyes wide, the woman's mouth opened slightly and her hands began to tremble.

The wolf stopped a few trees behind her, balancing on two branches with golden eyes narrowed in the direction she had been looking.

"Do you see them?" Sora asked, her voice shaking. "Do you see..."

"I do."

"Aya..."

The wolf nodded and the two continued to stare as a howl of laughter echoed throughout the forest - hysterical, crazy, cynical - followed by a series of statements accompanied by silent answers.

"Oh, Sas-oo-kay, you are so funny!"

"The village isn't far from here!"

"I bet you can't wait to get rid of me!"

"Why aren't you talking, big boy? Is it too early for your little brain to function?"

"I haven't seen actual sunlight since our trip to the Noble gathering! Oh, everyone there was just _so_ pretty."

Sora's fingers were digging into the bark.

"What do we do?"

"We live, Sora. The same as before. Let them pass... and then so shall we."

Sora went to speak, but she was caught off guard as a figure appeared before her. Dressed in white, gray eyes bore into her blue ones as thin fingers wrapped around her neck.

"What the actual fuck is this?" Ai asked, her grip tightening. Sora said nothing, simply held on to the younger woman's hand with her own in attempt to loosen her hand. The tension in the air was ground shattering as Aya growled, prepared to pounce, but the raven haired boy appeared in front of the wolf to guard her. He wasn't sure why, but it was instinct.

"Ai..." Sora gasped through strained breath.

"Shut up. Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

Something changed.

She slipped.

Cracked.

Her memories flowed through her mind. Flooding her senses. Kicking at her insides.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!"

But Sora wasn't saying anything.

No one said a word.

Ai's face was lifting back up into a grin, her eyes narrowing as she let go of her sister's neck.

"Shut up," her voice was a whisper now, her head lowered. Just," she lifting her head. Smiling. "I believe we found our Sun, Sas-oo-kay. And it only took twenty minutes!"


	9. Chapter 9

**Lalin**

* * *

><p>Sickness, insanity and death were the angels that surrounded my cradle and they have followed me throughout my life.<p>

-Edvard Munch

* * *

><p><strong>Phase I<strong>  
><strong>Part VII<strong>

* * *

><p>Sora was bound by shadows.<p>

Aya was unconscious.

And Sasuke was confused.

Everything had happened so quickly; Ai disappearing, the woman she was holding falling through the trees, the wolf jumping after her only to be put down by Sasuke's chidori. He had watched as the shadows began to crawl from Ai's feet down to the floor of the forest, binding the raven haired woman to a tree.

Sasuke sat on the wolf, overlooking the situation before him, which wasn't much of a sight. Ai was just standing there, staring at the woman, her expression unreadable as she tapped her fingers against the side of her leg. Her captive was unmoving and silent; she hadn't said a single word.

Then again, what was there to say?

"Are we leaving, then?" Sasuke finally asked. "Now that we have the final piece for your..." he wasn't sure what to call it. "Ritual?"

Ai didn't even look at him. It was as if he wasn't even there.

What could she have possibly been thinking?

"Don't bother," the woman spoke as Sasuke opened his mouth once more. "When she gets like this, there's no getting through to her."

His eyes narrowed.

"And how would you know this?"

Sora turned her head, her blue eyes connecting with his black ones.

"How would I not? She's my sister, after all."

It was then Ai finally made a sound. She cocked her head back as hysterical laughter left her lips, scaring the birds from the trees. She grabbed her stomach, doubling over for only a second before her leg came swinging from behind her and hit Sora in the jaw.

"Oh, man that felt _good,_" she grinned, watching as the blood dripped from the older woman's lips. "And here I was, thinking I would never be able to do that again."

"Ai, please. Stop this."

She a brought a finger to her lips, pouting, pretending to think.

"I guess I could..." she paused. "But I won't."

"Ai," Sasuke spoke, his stomach churning. Ai had said that she had killed her entire family, and yet here was her sister, alive, right in front of them. "We should head back. You have your Sun."

"Why so impatient, Sas-oo-kay? We have the entire day ahead of us now. We can go sight seeing, I could find you a cheap brothel, we could even all go out to eat like a family. What do you say, Sora?" she bent over, grabbing her sisters chin with her bandaged hand and forcing her to look into her eyes. "How about some food, hm? I'm sure the princess must be starving."

"Ai."

"Sora."

"Please, you're in danger."

"From what?" she shot back, her hands on her hips and her white hair flowing down her shoulders. "You? Please, Sora. You've never been a threat to me."

Sora shook her head. "No, it's... there are people looking for you."

"Someone is always looking for me. I'm an S-rank criminal for crying out loud. Or did Daddy dearest never teach you what big people words mean?"

"The New Moon is coming... and when it does, he's going to come for you. _Please,_ I'm begging you - "

Ai held up her hand, silencing her.

"Shut up."

And so she did.

"Tell me, how would you feel about being a Wolf... forever?"

Blue eyes widened as sweat began to drip down the side of her face.

"Excuse me?"

"You know, I never thought about it because you were supposed to be, _dead._ But now that I think about it, once the Moon is destroyed that means... there will be no cycle for you anymore. Either you'll be a human forever, or..." Ai grinned. "Not."

"What the hell is going on!?" Sasuke snapped, getting up from his position on the wolf. His eyes changed to crimson, his teeth grinding together as he tried to piece together what was happening. "What are you talking about?"

"Sasuke, you are growing to be rather irritating."

His wrists and ankles began to tighten. When he looked down, he realized the shadows had made their way over to him. Binding him completely.

"I don't owe you any answers," her voice was monotone - deadly, her hair shadowing her face as she glanced over towards him. "I didn't owe you the answers I already gave you. So if you do not shut your mouth, I will shut it for you. Permanently. And then you'll never be able to see your stupid big brother ever again, do you understand me?"

It was then he noticed her hands were shaking.

She was just confused as he was.

She had no idea Sora had lived.

* * *

><p>When Ai returned home after the transformation she was covered in blood.<p>

Sora had screamed and ran up the stairs of their spacious home to get her mother because, surely, Manami could fix this. She had to fix her little sister who smelled of iron and burnt flesh, who looked as if the blood in her body and been drained from her only to be poured over her head.

Manami came downstairs with a towel, wrapping Ai in it and carrying her to the bathroom where her eldest child was drawing a bath. Ai didn't speak, she only watched with dead eyes as her mother removed her clothes and set her in the tub.

When she was clean and dry she was wrapped in bandages and sent to bed. Sora waited outside her room just in cause her younger sister needed anything, which made it easier for her to hear her parents fighting down the hall.

Ai didn't sleep that night, and every night for the week after.

She didn't speak. Didn't eat. Didn't bathe.

All she did was sit and think of the shadows and wondered how they could feel so cold yet be able to burn her skin to ash.

Sora continued to wait outside Ai's room every night. She was the first person the white haired child saw in the morning and the last before she went to be. She would always ask - are you okay? Do you need anything? Do you want me to change your bandages? Are you ready to eat yet? But Ai said nothing in return.

And when she finally did speak, Sora wished that her sister had become a mute, because though her words were quiet and few, the way they slipped off her tongue sent shivers down the blue eyed child's spine.

_You did this to me, and for that I can never forgive you. _

And then the four year old grinned.

* * *

><p>On Ai's sixth birthday she was given a gift. It came in the form of a small black box, tied nicely with white ribbon and cut specifically to each corner.<p>

She remembered the golden ring with the diamond center perfectly; how it sparkled in the kitchen's light, how it was just a bit too big but could fit perfectly on a necklace -

and how her mother had snatched it away from her and given it to her sister.

"You're too young for suitors, Lalin," her mother had said. "And don't you dare cry about it. We will worry about marrying you off once Sora's been betrothed."

She didn't cry. Instead, she smiled.

"Okay, Mommy," the young girl replied, getting up from her stool and facing her older sister."Do you want to play, Sora?

Sora nodded enthusiastically and followed her outside. It had been two years since her younger sister had spoken to her, and though she understood why Ai was upset, she did not like the tension that roamed the house. If Ai wanted to play, that meant she had forgiven her, and with the grudge over the two could continue on as sister's again.

When she came in covered in bruises her mother and shrieked and called for her father. Rogue ninja had attacked and her stolen her ring. Her father had immediately left the house, weapons in hand, to track down the beasts who would do this to a ten year old child.

"Mommy," Sora spoke, her eyes lowered towards the ground. "Do you think... Daddy could train me?"

"In what?"

"How to... be a ninja."

She averted to her eyes to the window across the room where her young sister sat, her grin never faltering.

Her father would never catch the rogue ninja, simply because they didn't exist.


	10. Chapter 10

**Lalin**

* * *

><p>You have to be a brat in order to carve out your parameters, and you have to be a monster to anyone who gets in your way. But sometimes it's difficult to know when that's necessary and when you're just being a baby, throwing your rattle from the cage.<p>

- Paul Thomas Anderson

* * *

><p><strong>Phase I<strong>  
><strong>Part VIII<strong>

* * *

><p>Ai was ten when Sora was betrothed.<p>

The fourteen year old waited enthusiastically by the door for her knight in shining armor to come rescue her from the horror that had become her existence. She hadn't transformed in over two years, which was an excellent benefactor on her inner-physical being, but on the outside, along with mentally, it was tearing her apart.

Actually, it was Ai who was tearing her apart. Piece by piece, the little girl took away a part of Sora's life every time the New Moon came around.

But she couldn't blame her - couldn't blame the evil deeds and harsh stares, couldn't blame her ten year old sister for resenting her for what she had to endure just so Sora could live a normal life. Ai got the horrible end of the deal, Sora just had to deal with the repercussions of the matter.

But now - _now_ she had an escape. _Now _she had a knight, a way out of this horrible life and away from her parents who had turned her beautiful baby sister into a teeth baring monster. Away from Ai, she would transform every month, but her body's ache was just a small price to pay for her sanity.

The first thing she noticed was his golden eyes, and how unnatural they looked against his pale skin. He was only a few inches taller than her, and though she knew he was only sixteen his face looked aged and worn out in a handsome sort of way.

He came with his father, a noble of a land she had yet to know the name of, and he wore his face stern. She didn't mind though, this would be her escape, her new family, her -

liability.

Her eyes softened when she realized that this boy would be marrying into her family, and exiling them completely was out of the question. She loved them all, to a certain extent, but this what arranged by them... and they could take him away if she stepped out of line, but if she didn't...

The young girl gulped. Her sister would...

What would she do?

"Are you going to let us in, Seishin-chan?" the older of the two asked after the moment of silence.

Sora's blue eyes widened and she stepped aside, allowing the two the enter their home.

"My father hasn't returned yet, and my Mother's running errands. Can I get you some tea while you wait?"

"That would be lovely, thank you," the man said as the two took a seat at the counter.

"Whose this?" The younger boy asked, and for a moment Sora's heart dropped thinking that Ai had returned. All of the questions that she could not answer flooded through her mind as her hands began to shake around the teapot, but she quickly stopped as she realized the boy had been referring to the small black mop of fur positioned at his feet. With a sigh of relief, the girl smiled, setting two tea cups on the counter.

"Evie," she responded with a small smile. "She's my partner."

The boy nodded, not asking any more questions. To Sora, it was a relief; explaining the circumstances behind Evie would only scare him off. She had not considered the possibility that he could have already known.

* * *

><p>"You're not going to beg for your life?"<p>

The woman looked up from her spot on the ground. She leaning against the wall, her ankles and wrists chained together and held down by blocks of metal. They had reached Orochimaru's base an hour ago, and Ai had tied her up and left Sasuke on guard while she went to relay the information to her supposed Leader. It shocked Sora that Ai would be following anybody - she had never been the type to take orders, but of course the world could be a cruel place and even the scariest of people needed protection.

It only made her wonder what Orochimaru could possibly be like, for _her_ sister of all people to trust in his protection.

"With what's she's planning… death would be a blessing considering the other possibility."

Sasuke clenched his fists at his sides.

"What makes your life so worthless? How can you throw it away for someone like her?" he stopped, re-assessing whether or not his next choice of words were necessary. He said them anyway. "She killed your entire family. Everyone you loved... gone, because of her."

_Just like Itachi,_ but he couldn't say it.

"What you don't realize, is that we killed her first."

"Excuse me?"

"Imagine... you're the older brother. There is this beautiful baby in front of you. She's pure and innocent, so much that it's leaked into her physical being... and then you take this perfect little girl and you twist her until she becomes... well, this. Everything Ai has become is because of our family, because of me. I've taken everything from her... I can't resent her for doing the same to me."

When Sasuke was silent she spoke again.

"I even took her name, you know. It's Lalin. Child of the Moon."

"And she wants to destroy it?"

He was confused now more than ever. He knew Ai was childish, but could have never imagined that anyone would go to such extremes just to completely murder any indication of their past. He knew his decisions were questionable, and though they followed the same wave length, leaving his village could never compare to destroying something that wasn't even of the planet.

"Of course she does. It's the very thing that takes away what makes her real."

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

Sora stopped, contemplating her words, and smiled sadly behind the shadows.

"Because I don't want you to think of her as a monster. There's... humanity behind her, it's just locked itself away."

"She killed her family," Sasuke repeated again, as if the girl in front of him didn't know. As if she wasn't there. "That took away the last of her humanity, if she ever had it to begin with."

"You are so convinced you know her."

He stopped, his eyes narrowing.

"Tell me," Sora asked. "Do you truly believe you know her... or are you trying to give yourself reason _not_ to?"

* * *

><p>"I found my Sun, Oro-chee. Aren't you so excited? You're almost free of me!"<p>

She was sitting on the steps that led up to the elevated portion of the dining area, or what would have been a dining area if the base had any home-like qualities at all. Her hair was thrown up in a bun, her cloak thrown off to the side revealing her body in all it's bandaged glory. Only now did she look like the kunoichi she had intended to be, instead of a drowning rat in excess cloth and untamed hair.

Orochimaru's smirk hid his thoughts. Had the time really come already? Had their deal really been completed in only a matter of years? Where would she go now, if not with him? She didn't belong anywhere, could never fit in to the world as a normal civilian, and could never become a shinobi for any village. If she wandered, she would be killed eventually; if she hid, she would kill herself simply out of boredom.

Ai was crazy, but she was not stupid, which only made him wonder what she could be planning.

"How exciting," he replied.

"You don't sound very excited," she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest and closing her eyes. "What? Did you expect me to stay here forever? I have to grow up eventually. I can't be a kid forever."

You have never been a child, he wanted to say. Children can be taught; they can be changed, manipulated and shaped into whoever the creator wanted them to be. Ai had always been molded a certain way, and there was no changing it.

She was a wonderful asset to have, but a terrible one to keep because her wants and needs could not be changed to fit his. Not like Kabuto's, not like Sasuke's. Ai would always look out for Ai, just like Orochimaru would always look out for Orochimaru. There was no changing it.

But that didn't mean he wouldn't try.

"I'm just wondering how my end of the deal will play out," Orochimaru laughed. "What can you really offer me, Ai? When I already have just about everything I could ever need."

She narrowed her eyes.

"What are you saying?" Her voice was cracking now.

"What am I saying?" he laughed again, though this time it was more sinister. Ai stood up, her fists clenched in frustration and her teeth ground so tightly together she could feel the specks of bone in her mouth coming off like sawdust. He couldn't, wouldn't, this wasn't part of the deal, wasn't part of her plan - Orochimaru was weak, the only redeemable quality about him was his brain; it's the only reason she left Akatsuki to begin with. He was weak but he was an excellent observer, and because of that he would be the perfect candidate to perform her ritual. He would find her a Sun, because they were so rare, and then he would perform the ritual for her and destroy the Moon. And in return she would tell him everything he needed to know about his opponents, about the people he wanted to study. She would tell him everything she knew, everything the Moon saw would play right in to his hands until the day she was free...

Free, free... she was almost free. And now he wanted to take that freedom away from her.

The shadows had already begun to crawl from her feet and they were racing towards Orochimaru.

There was a piercing scream and then everything went black.

**End of Phase I**


	11. Chapter 11

**Lalin**

* * *

><p>I was never going to be the girl that tucks her ankles behind her head and weaves flowers in her hair;<p>

I was always made to leave blood on everything I touch

- Unknown

* * *

><p><strong>Phase II<strong>  
><strong>Part I<strong>

* * *

><p>The door opened slowly, letting a small amount of light to enter the room. Footsteps echoed, stopping as soon as the person they belonged to found the object of their interest. He smiled slightly, licking chapped lips as he gazed down at the sight before him.<p>

She had been beautiful once. Odd, but beautiful in her own sense of the term.

Now, however, she was barely a person.

"How are you feeling today, my dear?" Orochimaru asked.

She went to speak but her throat cracked, leaving the harsh taste of blood in the back of her mouth. The woman stirred, the chains that kept her bound to the floor smacking together and echoing through the room.

"I would have visited you sooner," he continued when he realized she would not reply. "But something came up. I hope you don't feel too neglected, my dear. It would be a pity to repeat the past in such a way."

He bent over so that they were eye-level, his striking yellow eyes connecting with her gray ones. There was no surprise behind the piercing glare she managed to give him; he had not expected her to break as easily as the rest, but he did expect her to break eventually.

"Do you enjoy it down here, Ai? Does it remind you of home?"

Her silence continued.

Orochimaru grabbed the girl by the chin, forcing her head up. Her white hair was matted with blood and tangled around her face, which had thinned out pleasantly over the course of the months she had been kept there; bruises lined her cheeks, and he took note of the vertical cut that ran down her left eye. It had already begun to heal, and would leave a nasty scar... but he could not remember where she had gotten it from. He could only assume it had happened during one of his fits, where he had gotten so infuriated he had thrown Ai in a cage full of men.

"Break her," he had said, walking away without a second glance. There was absolutely no way she could take on that many shinobi at once, skilled or not, and he had expected the ravenous nature of men who had been locked away for so long to break her. The man wanted to slap himself for evening being mildly surprised when he had returned to a slaughterhouse, with the white haired woman sitting in the middle of the cell grinning like a madman.

Ai let out a small scream as her stomach exploded into thousands of tiny shards. Orochimaru removed his fist from her stomach, covered in blood, just as her small hands grabbed the wound and she doubled over.

Clank, clank, clank, when the chains.

Clank, clank, clank, went her brain.

She started laughing, though her throat cracked in a way that made her sound as if she was gasping for air instead of trying to control the hysterics that were working their way from the bottoms of her feet.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" he sighed, standing up and dusting himself off. The light had returned, and there was another set of footsteps heading towards them.

"Is it time, Orochimaru?" Kabuto asked.

She wouldn't have laughed if she could've helped it, but at this point there was no way to keep herself at bay.

"Yes, Oro-chee," her voice cracked. Blood was pouring out of her stomach at this point, but she didn't pay much attention to it. "Is it time for you to feed me yet? Or does Crabby-oo-toe have to go to the bathroom and forgot how to wipe?"

Blood was dripping from her lips now, but she couldn't help it; the entire situation was just too priceless to resist.

Kabuto pulled her up by her hair and held a kunai to her neck, but she kept laughing, the blood falling from her mouth in short sprinkled spurts of red.

"Take care of her," Orochimaru growled, turning his back to the both of them. "I'm done with this."

"Are you ready then?" Kabuto asked as the door slammed behind them.

"I am," she said, grinning. Though the room was dark, Kabuto could make out the curl of her lips and blood stained teeth perfectly. "The question is... are you?"

Kabuto couldn't place the feeling that had come over him at that moment. At one second he was confident, comfortable, relieved; he was about to be rid of the menance that was Ai Seishin forever, and then the next he was ice cold, tembling, as the shadow of the girl left her body and towered above him.

"What's wrong, Crabby-oo-toe?" she asked, leaning against the wall as blood continued to drip from her stomach. The shadow was stretching, blocking his vision from her almost completely. "Cat got your tongue?"

"I'm not afraid of you," he spoke, taking his stance and holding up the kunai in front of him. "You'll be gone soon enough."

"I'm not afraid of you," she mocked. "You'll be gone soon enough."

The last thing he heard was her laughter, filling the room and consuming him completely.

* * *

><p><strong>One Year Later<strong>

* * *

><p>Sasuke sighed, unsheathing his sword. It was loosely hanging in between his fingertips at his side in warning. The moon was completely centered in the sky, shining down on him and reminding him of a time where things had been so complicated... yet more simple than they had been over the past year.<p>

It was a full moon tonight, which meant the forests around him were more dangerous than ever.

But he would not run, no; he would embrace the danger, scare it into submission. He was not a boy anymore...

Sasuke stared into the blue eyes of his enemy, his red eyes swirling.

"Where is she?" he asked, his voice monotone.

There was a growl. Sasuke's grip on the sword tightened.

"I won't ask you again. Where is she, Sora?"

And the black wolf pounced.

* * *

><p>"Do I really look like someone who knows what they're doing?"<p>

His eyes averted from her hands to her face. The man hadn't realized how much time had passed between them; it seemed like just yesterday she had strolled into the old hide-out covered in blood, not a drop of it belonging to her. She had been eleven at the time, much shorter, which a healthier looking face and eyes that shone almost as bright as the moon itself. Now, she was grown - at least sixteen, taller, thinner, with longer hair and not a drop of blood on her.

"You know what I am? A leaf. I'm just kind of... there. I have no real purpose, I just like stirring things up a bit. Making them different. One minute, I'm green and alive, and the next, dead, orange, falling from the trees and being carried away with the wind. There's really no plot line, no underlying scheme. I'm just there one minute, minding my own business, and the next thing you know I'm falling from the sky and getting in your way. I just _do_ things because they're fun. It's one of the reasons I left, you know. Akatsuki... so many plans, so many objectives. It's so mind-boggling. It drives me insane!"

He sighed, looking over from the young girl to the full moon hanging outside his window.

"There's just so much... controlling going on. Planning something out pretty much means you're trying to control a situation, and if there's one thing I've learned over the course of my existence, it's that I _hate _controlling people."

She sighed, leaning her head back against the window and looking down at her bare shoulders. She had ditched her cloak a few miles back, so that the team that had been sent after her would have a false trail to follow. How stupid did they have to be, to think that they could find her at night? How stupid could they be to think they could outsmart her with the Moon out and Full? The moon was her eyes; with it in place, she saw everything. She knew everything -

knew that Sasuke was one of the two sent after her. Him and that annoying little red head Orochimaru had become so interested in right before he had trapped her in her cage.

"Was destroying the moon not a plan, Lalin?"

"God, I hate that name," she responded. "It's so formal... so, accurate. Do I really look like a formal person?"

He didn't answer. She laughed, smiling slightly.

"This is why I never liked you, Itachi," she said, her gray eyes gleaming in the moonlight. "You are the only person on this planet that manages to make me feel inadequate."

He stifled a laugh, which sounded more like a grunt anyway.

"I tend to hear that a lot."

"I bet you do," she was walking towards him now. "But it looks like our reunion has to be cut short, I hope you understand. Your mini-me gets in a lot of trouble, you know."

"I can trust you to take care of it?"

"I haven't told anyone of your little secret, big boy," she grinned. "What makes you think you can't trust me?"

The man closed his eyes, sighing as the girl vanished into thin air.

What made her think he could?


	12. Chapter 12

**Lalin**

* * *

><p>I have all the characteristics of a human being; blood, flesh, skin, hair; but not a single clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust. Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don't know why. My nightly blood lust has overflown into my days. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip.<p>

- Patrick Bateman

* * *

><p><strong>Phase II<strong>  
><strong>Part I<strong>

* * *

><p>Red eyes went wide as the ghost appeared in front of him.<p>

"Do you feel that?" It whispered, and he realized it was not a ghost but a woman in white, the hood of her cloak hanging over her face. She grabbed his hand as the wolf behind her growled, placing it on her chest.

"What! I didn't even sense her!"

"Feel what?" he was nervous, but he did not stutter. He looked down at his hand, placed firmly over the crest that held the cloak together. What was underneath it, he wondered, what symbol could justly represent such a haunting being?

"The beat of my heart."

And then she let go of his hand and hers wrapped around his neck.

"Sasuke!"

"What -" he gasped but he could not make out the rest of his words.

"You know what they say, you can tell a lot about a woman by her hands," she laughed, and he could practically hear the grin. "For instance, if they're wrapped around your neck, "tightening. "She's probably upset." More. "Just maybe, though. You can never be too sure."

Sasuke coughed, but he did not struggle. If Ai wanted to kill him, he would have been dead long ago.

"What d-"

"Did you do? Hm, I don't know. I thought we were friends. I thought we had a deal. But you never once came looking for me, did you? I may be crazy, but the one thing I honor is agreements between people. It's noble. It's just. It's right. And not only that, now you're trying to kill my Sun! What could I do to deserve this!?" She cocked her head back, her face twisting into an expression he assumed was supposed to be hurt, but she just look horrified instead. "You're gonna kill my Sun so you can kidnap me and bring me back to him. Tell me, Sas-oo-kay, what makes you think the Earth is strong enough to defeat the Moon?"

And then he was flying.

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke managed to catch himself before he hit his red haired partner, landing on both feet. He stared at the woman in white, katana drawn. Ai's hood had fallen down thanks to the wind, and he noticed the scar that ran down her eye. It was old, but not aged, and he assumed it must have came from Orochimaru. Her normally black lips were painted a dark red, but they did not look unnatural. We're they bruised? Or were they stained with blood?

"Who the hell are you!?" Karin spat, narrowed her eyes and stepping in front of the raven haired man. "And what do you think you're doing to Sasuke!?"

The raven haired boy grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back.

"This is our objective, Karin," he scowled. Karin shook her shoulder away from his hand, her eyes never leaving Ai's body. Was this really who Orochimaru had sent them for? Some strange looking woman who spoke in riddles? What could be so important about her?

The wolf behind them growled but it soon turned into a yelp as a kunai embedded itself in her shoulder. Ai materialized in front of her, kicking her in the jaw with her bare feet. The wolf whimpered, bowing it's head as it backed up away from the girl.

"Shut up, mutt," the white haired woman growled. "You'll get your chance at me."

Sora spat, blood flying from her mouth as she snarled and lifted her back. Ai vanished away as soon as she pounced, reappearing behind Sasuke and the irritating woman next to him. Karin jumped away as Sasuke ducked, swinging his sword in her direction but she managed to evade him by less than a centimeter.

"I should rip another hole in your stomach. I know it hurts, it's the perfect torture and the perfect retribution - to sit here and watch you bleed out," like he watched me bleed out, but she would not say it.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Why did you come here?" If she knew Sasuke was looking for her - that Orochimaru was looking for her - why would she come straight to him? Why would she walk into a trap?

Ai cocked her hips to the side, her sinister grin returning. "To knock down that ego of yours, big boy."

He charged, and for a moment - with his hair flying behind him and his sharigan bared - he reminded her of Itachi.

How ironic was it that he looked exactly like the man he detested, yet didn't carry a single familiar trait in his personality?

Ai sighed, flipping her cloak back and holding her arms out to the side. She bit the bottom of her lip to prevent herself from smiling, but there was no use in that.

"Come get me, big boy," she said as the tips of her fingers began to glow. "I've been waiting for this."

* * *

><p>The room was pitch black, the only source of light being the moon shining through the window.<p>

The young girl sat on her bed, a discomforting look on her face as she stared out the window. She had two days before the New Moon came, two days before her body was ripped from the world and her soul was torn apart more than it already had been. '

She looked down at her hands, glove-less and bare, and sighed. They were bloodied and scarred and absolutely a disgusting sight to look at, but they were hers and hers alone. Just like her body was hers and hers alone; she belonged to no one, and once the Moon was gone she would be free.

She grinned, white teeth bared as she grabbed the black and red cloak from the bottom of her bed and throwing it over her stained white dress. She had washed her clothes, but by then the blood had already worked it's way into the fabrics. It was a constant reminder of what she'd done - a constant reminder of the rights she now had.

"Where do you think you're going?"

The girl squeaked, the door slamming behind her as she stared at the yellow-eyed man in front of her.

"What's it to you?" she said, regaining her composure. "And why are you in my section of the base? I thought Pein reserved this section for the people who like to rip out the hearts of their families. Unless there's something you're not telling me, hm?"

Orochimaru let out an awkward laugh.

"I was just stopping by to see Itachi," he said, and had it not been for Ai's constant knowledge of everything around her, she would have accused him of lying.

"You're a fucking weirdo, you know that, right?" she said, her grin never faltering. "I can't wait to see how this plays out."

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes as the girl walked past, confusion lingering on the tip of his tongue. Who was this girl and what did she know? And how the hell did she know it?

She made it outside without another interruption, stopping at the edge of the forest with fists clenched, staring up at the moon.

"I'll destroy you," she whispered. "That I promise."

Moments passed before the girl looked over her shoulder, her gray eyes scanning the area behind her.

"I know you're there," she said. "You can come out now. He's not looking for you out here, anyway."

The shadow emerged from the side of the base, his matching black and red cloak laying peacefully over his shoulders even with the slight breeze. How did this man manage to be so put together in a place like this? A place full of people ready to tear each other's head off?

"What, you can't speak, pretty-boy?"

Itachi looked up at the moon.

"I don't waste my breath on unnecessary words."

It was then the young girl belted out a laugh, grabbing her stomach in attempt to prevent from doubling over. Itachi watched as the girl shook, her laughter loud and cackling as it echoed around them.

What could be so dangerous about a child like this - so dangerous that Pein would personally send his angel to retrieve her?

* * *

><p>Karin charged first, which meant she was the first to feel the shock that radiated off of Ai's fingertips. It took less than a second to put the woman on the ground, her fingers placed sloppily at the base of her neck.<p>

"She's not dead, Sas-oo-kay. Just sleeping," Ai said, kicking her body to the side. "This is between me and you. Your girlfriend will get over it."

"Did you really only come here to fight me?"

She shrugged.

"Maybe. Why does it matter? You were about to kill my Sun to find me. Why not feed on to some entertainment for a while? All this hiding is getting so boring, and I'm going crazy! Did you know that I've actually started helping people this past year. Well, actually, I've tried to help people, and they only called me names. Said I was sick in the head. That I needed help. How nice is that!? They wouldn't accept my help, but they were willing to give me theirs!"

"Your form of help is death," he deadpanned.

"And your point is?"

He had to resist the urge to slap himself on the forehead. He had almost forgotten how paranormal this woman was, both in her appearance and in her personality.

"Let's just get this over with," he through his sword to the side, his red eyes swirling. "I'm done with these games."

"That's what they all say," she replied, holding up her hand, the tips of her fingers glowing white once more. "But they always come back to play."


	13. Chapter 13

**Lalin**

* * *

><p>I am trying to figure out which parts of my personality are mine and which parents were created to please you .<p>

- The Dust on This Poem Could Choke You

* * *

><p><strong>Phase II<strong>  
><strong>Part I<strong>

* * *

><p>Sasuke's eyes widened as the raven hair fell in front of his face. She had gotten close enough to cut strands of his bangs with only her finger tips - she could have sliced his nose right off, could have hit him and knocked him out, but she had chosen to only go for his hair. Ai was messing with his head, and there was no way around it. He was confident in his strength - confident enough to take on some of the strongest shinobi, but Ai had always been out of his league, along with everyone else he had ever come in contact with.<p>

He wouldn't have been surprised if by now, a year later, she had surpassed even Orochimaru. A Sannin.

She was behind him next, and he flipped forward in time to avoid her fingers grazing his neck. He felt the lightning between his finger tips, and knew his chidori was almost ready. All he had to do was cross his fingers and hope she didn't knock him out beforehand.

"Are you trying to kill me, Sas-oo-kay?" she said, un-clipping her cloak at the pendant and throwing it to the ground. He was almost taken aback; the glimpses he had of her clothes while she was still with Orochimaru were always styles of black, but now even her ninja attire was white. Her arms were wrapped up to her biceps, revealing a fishnet top and a white jumpsuit that started at her chest and ended at her thigh. Only a small ounce of skin showed between her thighs and the bandages that started at them. It was startling, and he could not place why.

She was in front of him in an instant, her gray eyes baring into his red ones.

"Do it, Sasuke," she placed her gloved hand on her chest. "Right here."

He swung his empty fist at her, but she disapeared.

"You see, Sas-oo-kay, this is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object," she called from the branch she had materialized on. "It's been this way from the very beginning of time. There's only one way to stop this and you won't do it out of some false sense self-righteousness. And I won't because I like this destiny. The one with me and you, together forever under the moon. It's just so much fun this way."

Something in the boy snapped. As soon as she appeared in front of him, his chidori was up, piercing through her chest. He watched as her gray eyes faded to black, rolling to the back of her head as she fell to the ground.

He started down at her, sharigan blazing as he retracted his hand from the air and began to shake furiously.

* * *

><p>On Sora's fifteenth birthday she was given a gift:<p>

a wedding ring.

A real one this time, one that belonged to her and would not come with the consequences of one taken from her little sister. It was sterling silver, with black diamonds surrounding a large, sparkling pink gem in the middle of it.

Yukon had shown up to her house in the early morning, and had proposed in the most traditional way; on one knee, a small black box open, a blushing smile even though the wedding had been promised since Sora became of age. The raven haired girl had shrieked, spinning around in her beautiful blue dress before hugging the boy tightly. _Yes, yes, of course I will. I would love to be your bride. I would love to be your wife. _

This occurred in the front yard, with both sets of parents present. They were so lucky to be joining families, so lucky to have such a beautiful couple as children. The grandchildren would be wonderful, and so _normal_.

Ai had watched all this from the second story window of the hall. Her white hair had been tied up in a neat bun, and she had been dressed in a fitting white dress that was just a little too big for her.

Her gray eyes stared down at the older girl who had taken everything from her, and then back at the sky. The sun had just risen, which meant she had at least twelve hours before the New Moon would set and she would transform once again.

_The wedding will be in two days,_ Manami had said, so loudly Ai believed she had done it on purpose. In two days, Ai would still be trapped in the other world, which meant that Sora would be married before she returned. Ai wouldn't be able to stop the wedding from happening, which meant Sora would be married and then have children. Ai would be an aunt by the age of twelve and she would be stuck with Sora forever, preventing her from transforming and preventing her children from transforming. Forever.

Her mother's words rang in her head. _This is what you were created for,_ she had said. _Sora was cursed with the Wolf's blood, and so will her children. We needed a sacrifice, someone to protect her. And so we had you. _

Manami had then ducked the child in the scolding hot water, burning her skin in an attempt to rid her of the fowl smell of blood.

Ai pulled up the skirt of her dress and reached for the pouch attached to her bandaged thigh. Taking the kunai out, she cut her dress at the knees. She threw the material on the ground and made her way to her room.

She would prevent this wedding from happening, even if she had to kill everyone before nightfall.

* * *

><p>It was as he was about to fall to his knees did he realize her body had begun to decompose. Her normally pale skin had been replaced with coal black, her hair and clothes disapearing before his eyes into a shadowy abyss.<p>

"Pathetic," her voice called from the trees. "You kill your enemy, and then you cry about it?"

He didn't respond. Instead, he picked up his sword from the ground and walked over to an unconcious Karin, Picking the woman up, he turned his back towards the direction of her voice.

"I'm proud of you, Sas-oo-kay. It only took you how long before you were able to bring yourself to kill someone? Even if it was a failure..."

The sky and them had begun to change from a navy blue to shades of pinks and oranges. When Sasuke tuned to Sora, she was still crumpled on the ground - but this time as a human being instead of a wild animal. Her raven hair was scattered around her body, which was covered in clothes that could have been considered undergarments.

"This is my warning," Ai's voice called. "Tell Orochimaru the next time he sends someone after me, I will not hesitate to kill them and drag their headless bodies back to him myself. His impatience will get him killed - I'll see the both of you soon enough."

And with that said, the woman was gone.

Sora's blue eyes opened and she let out a groan. Looking up at the boy in front of her, she shot up to her feet, a look of pure shock on her face.

"S-sasuke!? What the hell happened?"

The boy turned away and begun his journey. There was nothing left to say.

* * *

><p>"One little piggy," a shakey voice echoed throughout the room, followed by a scream. Sora's blue eyes widened as she ran to the nearest door, tugging at the lock but it was no use - it had been broken, and she was trapped.<p>

"Two little piggies," and there was another scream, followed by the sound of a fallen body. How many people lived in her house, she tried to remember. Three maids, a cook, and a gardener? That, plus her parents, Ai, and herself. That meant that two out of nine people were dead, eleven if Yukon and his father had returned before nightfall. But if they came back - that meant they could save her, could take her away from this place and whoever was destroying everything that she had built her life around...

She was shaking now as she heard her father's voice.

"Lalin!"

"No," she whispered to herself. Did one of the screams belong to her sister? Had Ai been the first sacrifice? How could that be... Ai was stronger than an eleven year old child should be, a prodigy in her own right - almost as strong as her father, she was certain of it. If these intruders had managed to kill her sister, that meant only one thing:

everyone in the house was going to die.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" she heard her father again, followed by cynical, cackling laughter and her hands dropped from her mouth as she sat in realization. That laughter could only belong to one person. "I swear I will destroy - " and then he was silent, and only a thump remained as his body crashed to the ground.

"Three little piggies."

Tears started flowing from Sora's eyes. If her father didn't stand a chance, no one else did. Her best luck would be finding a hiding place and praying that Ai didn't find her before nightfall.

The girl got up slowly and made her way over to the nearest closest, locking the door behind her.

Hours passed and it was just as the fifteen year old girl was beginning to feel safe did the door of the room creak open. She covered her mouth to silence her breathing, crossing her legs beneath her in attempt to stop her shaking. Foot steps echoed throughout the room and then suddenly it was silent.

Too silent.

"Come on, Sora. Do you think I'm an idiot?"

And then the door flew open and she was greeted by the lady in white. Ai's previously neat hair was now flowing down her shoulders, stained with blood - the same blood that was dried on her face and her dress, and there was not a single cut or wound on her sisters entire body.

"Don't you want to come out and play with me?"

"Why are you doing this, Ai? How could you kill your own family?"

"You named me Ai," the girl said. "Ai, it means love. Intense love. But I wasn't created for love, Sora. I was created for you! I was created to be a toy, to be used, and now my creators are dead in the ground and the only thing left for me to do is destroy you for giving me such a false name that's done nothing but raise my hopes up to the possibility of me ever being truly loved only for them to come crashing back down. You ask me how I can kill my own family but the real question is how could a family have a child specifically to kill them? I'm dead, Sora, and it's all because of you and now - " she paused to laugh. "Now you're going to die because of me!"

"That's not true! I love you, I've always - "

but it was too late because the sword the girl hand been dragging behind her was now in her older sister's chest and blood was flowing out of the raven haired child's mouth and the girl at the end of the blade was throwing her head back in laughter trying to make out the words_ I'm free, I'm free, I'm finally free._


	14. Chapter 14

**Lalin**

* * *

><p>Nothing ever ends poetically. It ends and we turn it into poetry. All that blood was never once beautiful. It was just red.<p>

- Kait Rokowski

* * *

><p><strong>Phase II<strong>  
><strong>Part II<strong>

* * *

><p>"It's done."<p>

Itachi looked up from his position on the hotel bed, unsure of exactly how he felt about this. His brother had grown up sheltered in Kohana; for him to be able to defeat Itachi at the end of the elder brother's game, he would have had to know what it felt like to have someone else's dying blood on his hands. He would have had to be able to kill, and not just threaten it - not just come close to the deed, but actually doing it.

Ai was alive, but Sasuke had aimed to kill. He had believed she was dead for at least thirty seconds, which meant he had tasted death and would be willing to do it again.

"What do I owe you?"

Ai bit her lip. She wanted him to take Orochimru's place in the ritual, but that was impossible if she wanted Sasuke to be her Earth. Earth personalities were common and she could easily find one to replace the young avenger but there was something gnawing at the back of her mind, something telling her that it had to be Sasuke. It just had to be.

"A promise."

Itachi's eyebrows lifted.

"If the day comes that Sasuke is not strong enough to beat Orochimaru, you must give up this illusion and protect him."

And then his eyes widened, and he nodded without question.

What could his brother possibly have done to win the heart of such a woman, he wondered. A woman whose heart he wasn't even sure still existed.

* * *

><p>Sasuke couldn't help but think that there ws something off about him.<p>

In retrospect, there was something off about any Village leader turning to Orochimaru for _anything_, but this man's chakra wreaked of malice. His yellow eyes practically glowed in the dim lighting of the base, his black hair untamed. He greeted the Sannin as if they were old friends, his arms out for a hug that was only returned bya sinister smirk.

"My Lord," Orochimaru spoke with sarcasm seeping off his tongue. The man said nothing of it, simply averted his eyes to Kabuto and then to Sasuke before turning his attention back to the snake-eyed man.

"I assume you already know why I'm here?" it was a retorical question, but Orochimaru answered anyway.

"Of course," Orochimaru responded, his hand making his way to Sasuke's shoulder. "Sasuke here is the last one to have seen her. It seems she… got away."

That's when the man's energy changed. His smile fell, his brow creased, and he balled his hands into fists as if to prevent him from punching the nearest person - which, in this case, would be the young raven haired avenger in front of him.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and he wanted to demand answers. Had he been sent after Ai only to trade her to this man? Who would want her, let alone go out of their way to strike a deal with Orochimru to find her?

"You've got to be kidding me," he seethed, unclenching his fists and taking a deep breath to calm himself. "But I suppose it's expected, given her nature. Oh well, Orochimaru. It seems like our deal is off and I'll have to look for her myself."

The confidence that was raditing off of this man disturbed Sasuke. How could he be so sure that he could capture her? This was Ai they were talking about, she wasn't anything close to an average kunoichi.

"How long has it been, Yukon?" Orochimru finally spoke. "It's been quite a few years, hasn't it. You haven't seen Ai since she was still an Akatsuki member... and believe me when I tell you, she has grown into quite the looker, but her power has grown as well, if not more so. She's not the little girl you used to toy with. I believe that soon, if not captured, she will even surpass myself."

"Ai has always been beautiful," Yukon spoke, causing Sasuke's heart to pound and his fingers to twitch in the direction of his katana. "But she has also always been weak. She gets into your mind, and she tricks you into believing she's powerful. Why do you think she runs away from any encounter that puts up so much of a struggle against her? I'm sure everyone in this room can attest that the Seishin child does not have any qualms about spilling a little blood."

Orochimaru couldn't help but belt out a laugh.

"How this man became a Kage is beyond me," he whispered lowly so only Sasuke and Kabuto could hear his words, before directing his attention back to the man in black. "Very well. Do as you please, but try to remember that the Shadows of this world," he smirked. "They play favorites."

Kabuto had to prevent himself from shivering as he recalled Ai's gray eyes and the Shadow creature she had managed to summon before her escape. With a sigh, Kabuto brought his glasses down to his shirt to polish them. When he returned them to his face, Yukon's eyes were narrowed.

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a promise."

Yukon nodded.

"Say I was to go out on a limb here and believe you," he replied. "What would you suggest?"

"Bring a team with you," his hand, which had never left Sasuke's shoulder, pushed the boy forward. "And bring someone who knows her abilities, if only to a certain extent."

* * *

><p>"Woah."<p>

Ai turned around, staring t the little girl before her who was looking up at the woman with such adoration she wasn't quite sure how to read it. She looked from the girl's brown eyes and back to the mirror she had been in front of.

"You're really pretty," the girl continued. She couldn't have been more than eight.

Ai continued to stare at herself. Her hair had been brushed and braided to the side, her bangs pulled back with them. Her lips were still stained red from all the blood she had spilled, and her scar was completey visible with her hair style, but the dress she had been wearing wrapped around her curves in all the right places. It was made of light pink robes and white ties, ending at her wrists and ankles.

"The dress is pretty," Ai said, her eyes glancing back to the girl for only a second. "I'm just absorbing it's beauty for the time being."

The girl nodded, but the confusion on her face showed she did not understand.

"Where are you going? Do you have a date? Is he cute?" she asked instead, her brown eyes shining.

Ai shrugged.

"Who knows," she smiled. "Maybe I do."

And then she turned and left the shop, materializing away just as the owner ran out screaming.

"I hate when they call me names," she mumbled to herself, appearing in the bed of her motel room and lying back, her braided white hair falling casually over her shoulder. "Thief? That's so..." she grinned. "_Boring_."


	15. Chapter 15

**Lalin**

* * *

><p>I like it when it rains hard. It sounds like white noise everywhere, which is like silence but not empty.<p>

- Mark Haddon

* * *

><p><strong>Phase I<strong>  
><strong>Part III<strong>

* * *

><p>The woman stared out into the night, her gray eyes casting over the lake in front of her. She was trying hard not to turn and run, not to close her eyes and hope that morning would come sooner. Sora wasn't near, which meant she would only be there for a day or two at most, but she had so hoped that the moon would be gone before she had to go back again.<p>

So with a sigh Ai stepped out of the forest and into the clearing, closing her eyes as she entered the water. It calmed her - the icy chill against bare legs, the way her kimono seemed to float on top of the water as she lifted it up to her knees. Pretty soon the material began to absorb the liquid, causing it to becoming heavier and unbearable as she walked deeper into the lake.

She bit her lip as she looked up towards the sky, right at the center of it where the moon should have been. But it was hidden away, and there was nothing to show for it except for Ai's physical being as her arms began to tingle and her eyes turned an astonishing white.

The coldness of the water made the pain more bearable, and it took the shadows longer to get to her this way. The woman looked down at her reflection in the water as she felt the burning in her legs as the darkness wrapped around her ankles and began to crawl up her body.

And then there was nothing but darkness as the woman sunk beneath the lake.

* * *

><p>It was only an hour before the two had left the base and begun their trip back to the Village of Shadows. Sasuke half-expected Orochimaru to send someone else with them, maybe Karin or even Kabuto, but the snake man insisted that Sasuke would be enough to find her. Yukon was the leader of a shinobi village, which meant there were many people at the man's disposal that could easily be spared at a time like this. Ai was much more important to the golden eyed man than she was to Orochimaru, anyway. Why would he send more than one able bodied shinobi after her?<p>

"So you were the last to see her, hm?" Yukon asked as the two neared the border of the man's home. "Tell me, how is she?'

"Ai?"

Yukon nodded, slightly glancing over Sasuke's frame before averting his eyes forward once more.

"She's..." Sasuke paused. How did one describe her, exactly? What words could ever be used for her - besides crazy, insane, paranormal? But that wasn't what this man wanted to hear; he already knew Ai was all these things. "The same."

"Figures," Yukon sighed. "And Sora? Have you seen her around?"

"How do you know about Sora?"

"Trust me, young Uchiha. I know much more about those two then you could ever wish to."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, unsure of whether or not to trust him enough to even enter the Village they were approaching. If this man was asking about Sora, that meant that he had never considered going to her in order to find Ai - Sora, who would never harm a hair on her sister's head, even after all the younger child had put her through. Which meant that Sora did not trust him enough to help him find her, just as she did not trust Sasuke.

"You're curious, aren't you?" Yukon continued after the moment of silence. "Of why I want to find Ai, of how I know the two Seishin sisters? There are answers, I assure you. But I'm not sure you're ready for them yet. It might..." the man smirked. "Make you reconsider this mission."

"That in itself makes me reconsider," Sasuke said, stopping mid-step and staring at the man from across the trees. "Tell me - why would you go to Orochimaru to find her, if you were so confident you could find her yourself? And why wouldn't you go to Sora, if you knew she was still alive? What exactly are you hiding?"

The mans eyes lit up at the question, and he had to suppress the laugh that was making it's way up from his stomach to his chest. He was definitely entertained by the young boy following behind him. How could a person get so angry so quickly? Over something as silly as a conversation about a bond between two people that was so far gone it could have been in a past life? He had noticed it from the beginning - the territorial tension that flew up around the Uchiha as soon as her name was mentioned. It was... familiar, and it was pathetic.

"You would be wise to watch yourself, young Uchiha," Yukon spoke. "I once got lost in those swirling pools of gray, too. Trust me when I tell you this: Ai will never feel anything for anyone but herself. But I do have one question for you... what did she do to win you over? Did she protect you? Did she show you just a bit of humanity? And did it make you feel special - make you feel different? That this insane woman could actually show compassion, and that she showed it towards you? Because if that's the case..." he paused. "You're not the only one."

Yukon watched as the young boy's eyes turned into crimson, his fists clenched at the accusation. He had hit it the nail right on the head - or so he thought.

Because it was not what Ai did to Sasuke that mattered, it's what he did to her. He hit her right through the heart with his Chidori, he thought he had killed her, and like a coward he was only disapointed when it turned out to be a clone. Because now she knew - knew that Sasuke had no qualms about killing her, no value towards her life, and he would have to face her afterwards. In his own, sick, twisted way, protecting her - or at least standing up for her, would make up for what he had done.

Or maybe he was once again fooling himself, and this small attachment that was growing on him wasn't so much the cowardice of facing her after trying to end her life, but the cowardice of what he had felt when he had truly thought she was dead. Something he had not felt for a very, very long time.

And that was loss.

"She's manipulative, Sasuke. And she'll use you up until you're worthless, and then she'll dispose of you. It's not her fault, really. It's how she was conditioned."

But Sasuke could feel it - the malice radiating off of him, the anger, the lies. To Yukon, it was her fault - everything was and would always be the fault of Lalin Seishin.

* * *

><p>She was screaming.<p>

At least, she was trying to.

The shadows wrapped around her body like chains, contracting every time she thought she was getting comfortable. She was bleeding out from every orface imaginable - her eyes, her nose, her mouth, her ears, and there was a burning sensation in her stomach that would just not go away.

"How many more hours!?" she screamed. "How much longer do I have to be here!?"

But there was only laughter surrounding her as the shadows tightened around her stomach, causing the blood to pour from her mouth in such a quantity she truly believed this may have been her last transformation. Her body couldn't take this anymore, couldn't stand to be torn apart in such a way. She was done, finished with everything. She was ready to die, and she wanted it so badly she would have done anything for it.

"My dear Lalin," a voice called, and her head shot up, white-eyes wide in the direction it had came from. "How are you feeling?"

"Sei," she called, and it was more of an accusation than it was a greeting. The voice laughed, deep and dark as it always had, as she she felt the air around her tighten.

"Are you ready yet?"

"For what?"

'To finally assimilate," he said. Ai didn't even need to think of a response before the words slipped from her mouth.

"Fuck you."

The being laughed again as a black arm shot out of the darkness, grabbing the woman's face and tightening it's grip.

"Some day, Lalin. Some day."

And then the arm retracted back to the shadows, and she was falling.


End file.
